Surviving The Next Step
by tinkertenorauthorspy
Summary: The field trip is over. Now comes the next step: high school! But how will their relationships change?
1. Getting Ready

**This is the first story out of what will eventually be a trilogy. This story will continue from the end of the series and will focus on Ned, Moze, and Cookie as they enter high school. The second story will focus on college and post-college life and the final book will be focused on their adult lives. The first book will be rated T while the final two will more than likely be rated M.**

 **This story starts where the final episode left off. To refresh everyones memory, Ned and Moze have just started going out, and Cookie has a date with Lisa to go out for pizza with Ned and Moze planning to join them. This story begins after the school day has ended but before the date. Enjoy!**

 _I can't believe I'm going out with Moze._

That was the thought that ran through Ned Bigby's mind as he stared at his reflection. Ned was in his room, getting ready to go out for pizza with his new girlfriend Moze, his best friend Cookie, and Lisa Zemo, the girl Cookie had spent most of the year pining over.

Ned was in his room trying to figure out what to wear. Every once in a while he'd glance out his window. From his room he could look out to the house next door, and in particular, to a certain window directly across from his own. That window was Moze's.

Jennifer "Moze" Mosely, Ned's best friend since preschool, and the girl he'd finally admitted he had feelings for, was also his next door neighbor. The two of them spent most of their free time together and even had frequent sleepovers even now that they were coming to the end of 8th grade. Their parents were close too and it was not unusual to see both families get together for meals and outings.

As Ned glanced at Moze's window, he frowned. The shades had been closed since he got home. Normally Moze would leave her window shades open unless she were changing, which usually only took a few minutes. But Ned had been home for almost an hour and the shades had been closed the whole time. The houses were close enough that they could easily see into each other's rooms and they could even talk to each other from their rooms if the windows were open. The two had spent many nights staying up late talking.

Ned looked back at his mirror again. He had opted for his usual look to go for pizza: a white t-shirt under a blue flannel button down shirt which he left unbuttoned, and blue jeans. For a few minutes he had considered dressing up, as it was technically his first date with Moze, but Ned figured this would be a pretty casual evening. Ned again turned his gaze back towards Moze's window but there had been no change. The blinds were still down.

 _What is taking her so long?_ He wondered. When they had gotten home from James Polk middle school, Ned and Moze had agreed to get ready and then they'd go meet Cookie and Lisa. In the past, getting ready took them hardly any time at all. When they were ready, Ned and Moze would usually look out their bedroom windows at each other and signal that they were all set. Then they'd either meet outside or they'd prearrange to meet at one of their houses. Today was a beautiful day, so Ned figured they'd just meet outside, but for some reason Moze was still not ready.

Ned finally decided to give Moze a call. He reached over and picked up his cell phone off of his bed and dialed her cell number. It rang longer than he expected before she finally picked up.

"Ned?" her voice sounded like she was surprised he was calling.

"Hey Moze. Are you ready to go get some pizza?"

"Ned, I'm still getting ready. Can't you see my blinds are closed?" Ned was surprised at the slight annoyance in her tone.

"I figured maybe you'd forgotten to open them" he responded, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. "I've been waiting for a while and wanted to check and see how you were doing."

"Well I didn't forget" came her firm reply. "I'm not ready so you'll just have to wait a little bit longer."

"Are you ok?" Ned asked, becoming concerned at how agitated she sounded.

"I'm fine" Moze muttered before abruptly hanging up the phone.

Ned stared at his phone for a minute. _Moze never acts like that_ he thought. _What is going on?_ Ned figured the best thing to do was just wait outside for her. So he grabbed his wallet and house keys and headed outside to wait for Moze. Since the pizza place was nearby, the two of them had planned to walk there together, which saved Ned from having to ask his mom for a ride.

To pass the time, Ned sat under the only tree in front of his house. It really was a beautiful day out: sunshine and a bright blue sky, and warm but not too warm. Ned chuckled to himself as he sat thinking about everything that had already happened that day.

The day had started with him trying to get some quality time with Suzy Crabgrass on the big year end field trip. He had gotten kicked out of the trip by Vice Principal Crubbs, snuck on board the wrong bus, and ended up separated from Suzy for most of the day. The funny thing was that as crazy as it all had been, it had all worked out perfectly. Sure he'd ended up looking just like the wild boy from the painting everyone was so obsessed with seeing, but he'd ended up with Moze.

Ned couldn't believe that just that morning he had been torn between Suzy and Moze. Now as he sat waiting for the girl who'd stolen his heart, he couldn't imagine liking anyone else. He thought back to all the time he'd spent with Moze and couldn't believe how long it'd taken for him to realize there was more between them than just friendship.

Thinking of Moze brought Ned's thoughts back to the weird phone conversation a few minutes ago. _What was Moze so upset about?_ He wondered. _Today's been an amazing day. She should be in like the best mood ever, right?_ The sound of Moze's front door opening jarred Ned from his thoughts.


	2. The Big Pizza Date

**First off, the story won't just be from Ned's perspective. As it goes along the perspective will also be shown from Moze and maybe a few others depending on the flow of the story. Also, these first two chapters are shorter than what I envision for future chapters. I'm hoping to put out a new chapter every week or two but a lot depends on my schedule. Anyway, without further ado, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!**

As Moze emerged from her house and walked towards him, Ned wasn't sure how to react. She didn't look angry, but she wasn't smiling either. If anything, she looked sort of nervous, which just added to Ned's confusion about how she was acting.

She looked nice. She had on a light pink button up shirt with the top buttons unbuttoned. Underneath her shirt, a darker pink tank top was partially showing. She also had on a pair of blue jeans. Her hair was down and flowed around her shoulders and down her back.

Ned liked how Moze looked, but he also didn't understand why she had taken so long getting ready. She was dressed pretty much the way she usually did for school, and Moze was never one for taking a long time to get dressed unless she was getting really dressed up. Ned decided not to ask her about it, as he suspected it might get her angry with him again.

As Moze reached where he was sitting, Ned popped to his feet and gave her the biggest smile he could.

"Hey Moze. You look great!"

Much to Ned's relief, Moze gave him a smile in return, although he noticed it was smaller than usual. Again, he decided not to pursue it.

"Thanks Ned" she responded. "You look really good too."

"So are you ready to go meet Cookie and Lisa for pizza or do you wanna hang out for a bit first?" Ned asked, secretly hoping she would opt to hang for a bit first so he could figure out what was bothering her. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

"No, you know how Cookie gets when we're late. He'll probably freak out if we take too long and end up making a total fool in front of himself in front of Lisa. You know how long hes been hoping for a date with her. If he blows it, WE'RE gonna hear about it nonstop."

Ned grinned. "Yeah but if it goes really well he probably won't shut up about it either"

Now Moze finally did break into a full grin. She reached out and grabbed Ned's hand with hers.

"Come on Bigby, let's go get some pizza with our crazy friend."

* * *

Ned and Moze held hands the whole walk to the pizza shop. They talked for a bit but the conversation dwindled and they walked the rest of the way in a semi-awkward silence. When they arrived, Cookie and Lisa were already there, waiting outside for them. Cookie couldn't contain his excitement about the double date.

"Ned! Moze!" he exclaimed, a little too loudly. "Isn't this great? The four of us getting pizza? Maybe we should make this a regular thing, am I right?"

"Cookie, why don't we see how tonight goes first before we commit to anything long term" Moze said firmly.

Ned glanced at Moze. _Ok, something is definitely up_ he thought to himself. He made a mental note to talk to her about it when they got back to her house. In the meantime, Cookie eagerly led the group inside. Lisa seemed happy to be there and was grinning almost nonstop as Cookie picked out a booth for everyone to sit in. Cookie and Ned sat opposite each other on the inside part of the booth, with Moze and Lisa on the outside sitting next to their respective dates.

"So what kind of pizza do you all want?" Cookie asked in his suavest voice. "Feel free to get whatever you want. It's all on me and I am HAPPY to get you anything you like!"

Lisa reached out and put a hand on his arm. "Simon, you don't have to do that" she said pleasantly. "It's a nice gesture but you don't need to impress me. I'm already here with you."

Cookie raised his eyebrow and gave her his fake macho expression that he often used when trying to impress a girl.

"Lisa my dear" he said, again trying to sound suave, "I want you to have the best pizza date you've ever had. And besides, its Ned and Moze's first date as boyfriend and girlfriend. I want it to be special for them too."

Moze shifted uncomfortably as he said this but when she spoke her tone was pleasant. "Cookie, you don't have to do anything special for me and Ned. Let's just have some pizza and hang out. I want sausage and cheese pizza and I don't mind paying for it ok?"

Ned cut in before Cookie could object. "Cookie, why don't I pay for Moze and I and you can pay for Lisa? Ok?"

Cookie didn't miss a beat and continued trying to charm Lisa with his over the top antics.

"Absolutely" he said, still using his suave voice. "That means I can buy you dessert too Lisa. Anything you want."

"Thank you Simon. I really appreciate that, but you can drop whatever voice that is." Lisa responded with a warm smile. "Just be yourself and I'm sure I'll have a wonderful evening"

"Ok I can do that" Cookie said, finally going back to his normal voice.

The group placed their orders. Ned and Moze decided to split a sausage and cheese pizza, Lisa opted for a vegetarian pizza, and Cookie chose pepperoni for himself.

As they ate, they talked about the end of junior high, summer plans, the weasel and its babies that Gordy had found, and about the field trip. Everything seemed to be going fine until, just after they'd finished eating, when Lisa decided to ask Moze and Ned how it felt to be going out. Moze visibly stiffened and didn't seem to know what to say so Ned decided to answer.

"For me, I don't think I've ever been happier. It was kind of a long road to get here but choosing Moze ended up being the best decision I've ever made. I'm still in shock that we're here on our first date but in a good way and I've been excited about it all day."

"Ned that's so sweet" Lisa exclaimed. She turned her gaze to Moze. "What about you Jennifer? How excited were you about your first date with Ned?"

Moze glanced at Ned then quickly looked down at the table. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there.

"Moze what is with you?" Ned asked with a hint of anger in his voice. "Ever since we got back from school you've been acting really weird. Things were so perfect on the field trip and at school and now it's like you're a different person!"

Moze suddenly jumped to her feet and glared at Ned. He was surprised to see her eyes looked wet.

"Everything's the matter!" she shouted. "If you don't know then don't bother asking me!"

She turned and ran out of the pizza shop without a second look at Ned, Cookie, and Lisa, who all sat with stunned looks on their faces. No one knew what to say. After a few minutes of silence, Ned slowly got to his feet.

"Cookie…..Lisa….." he fumbled for words. "Uh….I'll see you guys later."

Ned walked out of the restaurant feeling very confused and at a total loss to explain what had just happened. He headed home, hoping he could talk to Moze.

* * *

The short walk back to his house felt longer than it ever had for Ned. He went inside and went straight to his bedroom. He looked out his window at Moze's room. The curtains were still closed tightly.

 _Dang it_ he thought. _I was hoping I could get her attention through the window. Guess I'll have to call her._ He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Moze's number. The phone rang and rang. Finally it went to voicemail. He hung up and tried a second time. This time it went to voicemail after only two rings. He tried one last time and this time it didn't ring at all.

 _She's avoiding talking to me. That's not good._ He decided to leave a voicemail for her. At the beep Ned froze for a second figuring out what to say. He opted for a quick message.

"Moze, it's me. Please call me back. I'll be up late. Please tell me what's going on."

Ned waited in his room for a while, hoping that either Moze would call back or she'd open her curtain. After about ten minutes when neither happened, he decided he needed to get out of his room or risk going crazy.

Normally in situations like this he'd go spend time with Moze. Since that was not an option, Ned ended up wandering into his backyard. It was a pleasant night, comfortably warm, and the three quarters moon high in the cloudless sky was surrounded by stars.

Ned grabbed a wooden Adirondack style chair his parents had picked up at some garage sale and sat, staring up at the sky. At first he didn't think about anything, but after sitting for a while he started thinking about Moze.

 _I've never seen her act like that_ he thought. _At least not towards me._ He pondered how she had acted on the field trip, and then how she'd acted after they got home from school. Then a dark thought entered his mind: _could she have changed her mind? Maybe she realized she doesn't feel the same way about me that I do about her._ This led to an even darker thought, one that shook Ned to his core: _What if we can't come back from this? What if this is the end of our friendship?_

After that thought, Ned started remembering his favorite moments with Moze: pretending to date her to fool Missy, beating Loomer and his cronies at dodgeball thanks to her saving the day, the double date with Moze, Suzy, and Jock Goldman where he'd accidentally kissed Moze thinking she was Suzy, winning the bet with Moze about getting his project done on time, helping her get a good picture on photo day, and of course the moment he'd realized he liked her as more than a friend.

Ned hadn't realized how long he'd been outside until he felt how stiff his back was. His heart hurt more than his back but he knew he'd better go inside, even though the thought of looking out his window at Moze's would hurt. He was just about to get up when he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. He turned to see who it was and was surprised to see Moze standing there.

"Moze" he managed. "What are you doing out here this late?"

"I saw you sitting out here and I needed to talk to you" she replied.

Ned looked at her for a moment. It was dark out, but the moon provided enough light to fully see her face. She didn't look upset, which he took as a good sign

"So what did you need to talk about?" Ned was going to leave it at that but then he suddenly blurted out "Are you breaking up with me?"

To his surprise Moze actually laughed

"No you idiot, I'm not." Then her face became serious. "I can understand why you'd ask that though. I'm sorry I've been acting so weird. I'll try to explain."

Ned released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. The relief that she wasn't dumping him was immense. He waited for her to continue, which she did.

"Ned, when we got home today, I had some time to think, and the more I thought, the more I began to freak myself out."

"What were you freaked out about?"

"You. Well, not just you. Us. As in the going out version of us. Ned, I freaked because I suddenly realized that because we're now more than friends, there's going to be so many more expectations. Take tonight for example. When we would go out before, all I cared about was what can I wear that I'll be comfortable in? Tonight I was worried about wearing something that you'd like, and that you'd think I looked good in. Believe it or not I almost decided to wear a dress. To go out for pizza."

Now it was Ned's turn to laugh. Moze smiled and kept going with her explanation.

"That's why I snapped at you when you called, Ned. I was flipping out over my wardrobe, and I was pissed that you were ready so quickly. I finally decided to help keep myself sane by just going in something I'd usually wear. I tried to treat it like just a normal outing. But I kept thinking _this is our first date, should I be doing anything special?_ "

"So that's why you were acting weird?"

"Yeah. And then when Lisa asked how excited we were for our first date, I lost it. I thought I must be doing something wrong by not trying to make it extra special. Then when you seemed fine and asked me why I was acting crazy, I got mad because I felt like I was the only one having trouble and it frustrated me. I'm sorry I stormed off like that."

Ned stood up, walked up to Moze, and put his arms around her.

"Moze, its ok. This is all new to both of us. You're allowed to freak out. But let me be there to freak out with you. Or turn a hose on you. Whatever works."

Moze gave him a huge smile. "Bigby, sometimes I want to strangle you, and sometimes I want to hug you, but right now I want to do this" She leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against his in a simple, sweet kiss.

Ned held her close against him and gazed into her eyes. "Moze, why didn't you just talk to me about this BEFORE you went off the deep end?"

Moze paused for a moment, and then replied tenderly "Because I've never liked anyone the way I like you. Or as MUCH as I like you. You're in my heart Ned. It's scary, it throws me off, but mostly it's completely wonderful. YOU'RE completely wonderful. I don't want to do anything to lose you."

"You won't." Ned replied. "You're in my heart too."

With that, Ned pulled Moze close and kissed her, passionately and deeply. It was even more intense than their kiss in the gazebo. Neither one of them wanted to ever pull away.

 **I hope you all liked chapter 2! Next chapter will arrive as soon as I am able.**


	3. The Final Week Begins

**Here is chapter 3. So far I'm able to do about a chapter per week. That may change as I go along but so far I'm doing my best to keep to that pace. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!**

The final week of middle school at James K. Polk had arrived and Moze was excited. For one thing, she was absolutely ready for summer vacation and all the time she'd get to spend with Ned. For another thing, that meant high school was finally starting, something she'd been looking forward to for a while.

As she looked in her closet while trying to decide what to wear, Moze couldn't contain the big smile spreading across her face. Her talk with Ned in his backyard two nights ago had lifted her mood and ever since then she'd felt as giddy as she had at the gazebo. This would be their first full school day as a couple. Moze knew there'd be some changes and probably some unpleasant moments. _Like talking to Suzy_ she thought to herself

Unlike planning her outfit for their first date, Moze was not having any anxiety this particular morning. In fact, she was eagerly looking forward to dressing a little nicer for Ned. _I don't want to go over the top_ she thought. _I'll save looking really nice for special occasions._ Moze had to admit that although she didn't usually like dressing up, she was excited to look good for Ned.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Moze opted to go for a look that was dressier than normal for her but would still look fine for a regular day at school. She selected a white silky tank with spaghetti straps and pulled a pink V-neck t-shirt over it. Then she pulled on her favorite pair of blue jeans on and used a pink and navy blue scarf as a belt. She put her favorite headband on and let her hair fall down her back. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she had to admit that she looked very nice. _I hope Ned likes it_ she thought happily to herself. She grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs to meet him.

* * *

Ned's jaw dropped when Moze emerged from her house. He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked. _I can NOT believe she's with me! How lucky am I?_ This was not the first time he'd had that thought.

"Moze you look beautiful" Ned blurted out.

She blushed, smiled, and leaned towards his face to give him a quick kiss.

"Thanks Ned. You look pretty handsome yourself!"

Ned grinned. He'd dressed up a bit as well in a light blue button up shirt with just the top button unbuttoned, and jeans. His dad had jokingly asked if he was going to a meeting and if he wanted to borrow a sport coat. Ned had dashed out the door, his face beet red while both his parents shared a laugh.

"So Moze does this mean I get a kiss every time I compliment you?" he asked her. "I have plenty of compliments you know. I could compliment you all day."

"No dummy." Moze responded with a laugh. "I can't spend ALL DAY just kissing you. We have other things to do. You know, like class, graduating, eating, and breathing. You know, things I can't do simultaneously while kissing."

"You never know unless you try" Ned responded mischievously with a sly grin.

"Ned Bigby you are too much" Moze responded with another chuckle. She stepped close to him and put her arms around his waist.

"We do need to go to school now, but here's something to last you for a while" Moze's voice trailed off with a seductive hint as she pressed herself up against his body and leaned in slowly. At first her lips simply brushed his, but soon she had them pressed firmly against Ned's mouth. Moze then surprised Ned by opening her mouth slightly, taking his upper lip between hers and sucking slightly.

The two of them ended up making out for about 20-30 seconds before Moze gently pulled away. Ned's eyes were closed and remained closed for a few more seconds.

"Wow" was all he managed to say breathlessly.

After a few more seconds Ned was able to get his raging hormones back under control and it was a few moments more before he found his voice.

"Moze, where did you learn to kiss like that?" he asked in a wonder.

Moze grinned with a hint of playfulness in her expression.

"Girls just know" she responded with a twinkle in her eye. Then her expression became more serious. "But don't expect that all the time. I don't want either of us to get carried away."

Ned nodded solemnly. He looked her right in the eyes before he spoke so she'd know he fully understood what she meant.

"Don't worry Moze" he said.

"Good" she responded, the smile returning to her face. "Then let's get going so we're not late for school. We don't want to get detention from Crubbs during our last week!"

* * *

When Ned and Moze finally arrived at James K Polk middle school, they were greeted immediately by a very concerned looking Cookie and Lisa, who they hadn't spoken to since Moze stormed out of the pizza shop. However the concern soon melted into relief as both Cookie and Lisa noticed Ned and Moze were holding hands and beaming with happiness.

"Ned! Moze!" Cookie exclaimed. "I see you're holding hands. Are you guys ok now?"

"Yeah, we're doing great" Moze happily responded. "I'm sorry I walked out on our double date. I had some stuff I needed to deal with and I didn't handle it very well. Luckily Ned here handled it perfectly"

Moze grinned at Ned and quickly leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. Ned blushed in a bit of embarrassment but smiled warmly. Lisa raised an eyebrow and couldn't hide a knowing smile.

"I guess you guys made up pretty well huh Jennifer?" she asked. Now it was Moze's turn to blush. "I'm glad everything worked out for you two" Lisa continued. "Jennifer, do you wanna go talk for a bit and catch up?"

"Sure" Moze replied. "We can stop by my locker and get my books and talk until class starts."

Moze turned to Ned and gave him a quick kiss.

"Ned I'll see you after your Life Science class."

"I'll miss you" he responded sweetly.

"I'll miss you too" Moze responded, beaming like a ray of sunshine.

As Moze and Lisa walked down the hall towards Moze's locker, Cookie grabbed Ned's arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. He was excited.

"Ned" he exclaimed, trying not to be too loud "Did you see Moze?"

Ned frowned.

"Uh, yeah. She was right in front of me. Did you seriously not realize that?"

Cookie shook his head.

"No, no! I mean, did you notice how she looked? She's never looked like that before. She pretty much had googly eyes. And when she walked away, I think she was giggling! Moze never giggles!"

Ned gave Cookie an annoyed look.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Moze is quite obviously completely crazy about you Ned! Isn't that great?"

Ned chuckled and shook his head.

"Cookie, I know that. She told me. I told her I feel the same way about her. Why do you think we're going out? It's not like it's just something you do if you're really bored you know! You know for a Cyborg, sometimes you really seem to miss the obvious stuff!"

Cookie shrugged.

"I guess it's just weird to see Moze acting like a girl. She didn't do that with any of the other guys she's liked. Well, except maybe for Faymen when she was trying to get sparks from kissing him."

Ned groaned at the memory.

"Cookie, please don't mention that to me. I don't like thinking about Faymen. He was the one that almost kept Moze and I from going out."

"Sorry Ned. I won't mention him again. Besides, I want to find out exactly what happened between you and Moze after our pizza date!"

Ned's face turned red for what felt to him like the millionth time that day.

* * *

Ned had a hard time concentrating in on what Mr. Monroe was saying. Part of it had to do with the fact that Mr. Monroe had deviated from talking about the day's topic in Life Science and was going into great detail about some museum he'd visited during his year abroad, and part of it was the fact that Loomer had been staring daggers at him from the instant he'd entered the classroom.

"Cookie" he whispered. "I think Loomer is planning to actually kill me this time."

"What? Why do you think that?" Cookie whispered back

"He's never looked this angry before. He's zeroed in on me. I feel like any second he's gonna make my brain explode with all the angry energy he's focusing on me!"

"Ned that's crazy. There's no such thing as angry energy. The only way he could possibly make your brain explode is with a death ray, and what are the chances he has one of those?"

"Wait, death rays exist?" Ned felt himself starting to sweat.

"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe he built one."

"Cookie this is Loomer we're talking about! He's not smart enough to build something like that!"

Cookie nodded.

"That's true. Then it's just all in your head. He probably just wants to beat you up for going out with Moze since he's liked her for years."

"Gee thanks Cook. That's a relief. But why does he still care? He's going out with Suzy now!" Ned whispered.

"Is there something wrong boys?" Mr. Monroe asked, interrupting their conversation.

Ned glanced at Cookie, then back at Mr. Monroe.

"Uh, I uh, I have to use the bathroom for the rest of class!" Ned exclaimed, dashing out of the room as he said it.

"Oh" Mr. Monroe said, confused. "Well alright then." Then he went back into his museum speech.

* * *

Moze hadn't seen Ned all day and she was starting to get worried. She'd gone to his Life Science class to meet up with him like she'd told him, but he wasn't there. Cookie had told her he'd dashed out of class early and hadn't returned. She waited by the boys' bathroom and had even asked Coconut Head to check if Ned was in there. He wasn't. She'd even checked the girls' room to see if he'd accidentally gone in there again. He hadn't. She checked the nurse's office, the library, the gym, even Crubbs office, but Ned was nowhere to be found.

By the end of the day, Moze was a nervous wreck. No one had seen Ned. The teachers had seemed oddly unconcerned when she'd asked them. Dr. Sweeney had even told her "Not to worry about it" But she was worried. She entered her final class of the day, History, and her jaw dropped when she'd entered the classroom.

"Ned?" she asked in disbelief.

Ned was sitting at their teacher's desk. Their teacher, former Principal Pal, was standing in front of him, wearing a suit of armor complete with a helmet, shield, and a sword that didn't look even remotely sharp.

"Halt! Who goes there?" Pal asked.

"It's ok Principal Pal" Ned answered before she could respond. "It's just Moze."

Principal Pal moved out of the way so Moze could reach Ned. She grabbed his hand and hauled him to his feet.

"Ned, where the hell have you been? I was worried sick about you!"

Ned looked like he was going to be sick.

"I'm hiding from Loomer" he admitted, clearly ashamed of the fact.

"Why?"

"I'm pretty sure he's trying to kill me. So I had Principal Pal send the rest of my teachers notes saying I had a special project I was working on with him for graduation. Then I hid out here all day. It's the only class Loomer doesn't come to on Mondays because he has his tutor."

"Loomer has a tutor?" Moze asked with a laugh.

"Don't tell anyone though" Ned nervously replied. "I don't need another reason for him to kill me."

Moze nodded in sympathy.

"So how did you get Pal to agree to your little plan?

"Actually it was pretty easy. I told him we were learning about medieval times in another class and I had a project to learn about how knights defended their king from his enemies. I didn't realize he'd go all suit of armor on me, but it worked. I'm alive. Loomer hasn't killed me. Yet."

Moze rolled her eyes. "

Well, we'd better get to our desks. The rest of the class will be here any minute."

As they sat down, Ned leaned over to Moze.

"Moze, I haven't seen Suzy yet today and she's in this class. How is she doing? Is she mad at me? Or you?"

"Actually Suzy isn't here today. Apparently she had a couple of appointments her mom scheduled for her. Probably getting ready for all the grad photos she's gonna take. We'll have to find out tomorrow."

The rest of the class slowly filed in and a few minutes later, class began. Principal Pal decided to keep the suit of armor on and spent most of the class talking about chivalry, bravery, and oddly enough, the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ned found himself enjoying the class and for a while he forgot about Loomer. That all changed when the final bell rang.

* * *

Ned convinced Moze to make a break for the bus to help him avoid Loomer. They dashed to each of their lockers to grab what they need. As they finished at Ned's locker, Moze wasn't completely pleased with how Ned was handling the whole thing.

"Ned, at some point you're gonna have to face Loomer. You can't avoid him like this again tomorrow."

Ned was shoving books and things into his backpack as fast as he could.

"I know" he replied. "I'm hoping my mom will buy me a flak jacket to wear tomorrow."

Ned finished loading his backpack, slammed his locker shut, and grabbed Moze by the hand. He half dragged her towards the exit.

"Ned!" Moze exclaimed. "You have got to stop being this crazy. I'm sure it'll be fine. Loomer's harmless. It's not that hard to talk to someone. You just have to be brave and….." but her voice died out and she didn't finish the sentence.

Ned had frozen. Loomer was standing between them and the bus, looking angrier than Moze had ever seen him. But that wasn't what froze her in her tracks. The reason for that was the person standing next to him. There, looking as mad as a hornet, hands firmly on her hips, was none other than Suzy Crabgrass.


	4. Suzy Problems

**Sorry for the week delay in getting this chapter posted. Life happened. Hoping the next few weeks I'm able to continue my chapter per week goal, but there will be no update weekend of 3/22 as I will be out of town. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome.**

"MOSELY!" Suzy Crabgrass yelled angrily. "I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!"

Moze gulped and moved behind Ned, who was just as afraid of what Suzy would do as she was. They had very little chance of being able to run past Suzy and on to the safety of the school bus, and even if they made it, the bus wasn't going to leave for a while yet and no doubt Suzy and Loomer would follow them onboard. The only solution was for Moze and Ned to face whatever was coming and hope it wasn't too awful.

Suzy stomped her feet as she walked right up to them, the anger on her face not lessening even a little. Ned bravely stood his ground in front of Moze, offering what little protection he could, but Moze could tell he was barely able to keep from shaking. For that matter, Moze wasn't sure she could keep from shaking herself, which surprised her. She was bigger than Suzy and could certainly take her on if it came to that. Moze then realized part of her reaction was due to guilt she didn't realize she'd been feeling.

Guilt. That had to be it. Moze was feeling guilty about how she'd sort of taken Ned from Suzy. Sure, it was Ned's choice to decide who he wanted to date, but Moze knew if she hadn't fallen for him and shown interest that he and Suzy would probably still be together. As Much as Moze didn't want to admit it, Suzy was her friend, and what happened with Ned could be seen as a betrayal. Moze realized that this was why she was suddenly afraid to face Suzy, but the confrontation was happening right now whether she was ready or not.

Suzy stopped mere inches from Ned and glared at both of them. Loomer hadn't moved from his spot but he had his arms crossed and the look on his face was clear: he had her back, and no one was leaving until Suzy Crabgrass said so.

"Why the hell did you two do this to me?" Suzy asked in a low but very firm and threatening tone of voice. Moze and Ned looked at each other, wondering who should answer. Moze finally took the initiative.

"Suzy, Ned and I didn't plan on anything that happened." Moze was amazed her voice didn't shake. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

"You do realize that you totally HUMILIATED me right?" Suzy responded sharply.

"I swear we didn't mean to. Suzy, the last thing I'd want to do is hurt you or embarrass you in any way. Ned and I…. well…. something happened. I think we'd both been feeling it for weeks. Something more than friendship. I don't think either of us expected it. We even fought it for a bit. We were both torn up about it. I was dating Faymen, and Ned was getting over you. Then you came back just as we were both ready to see if we could try dating. It wasn't planned Suzy, it just happened. If anything, the timing just sucked. I mean really REALLY sucked."

Before Suzy could respond, Ned spoke up.

"Suzy, when you came back I was literally about to tell Moze how I felt about her. Then you showed up and I didn't know what to do. At first I thought maybe it was a sign that you and I should get back together, which we did. But during the field trip on Friday, I realized that I actually had moved on from you, and that I liked Moze. A lot. I'm sorry I didn't handle things better when you came back. I'm sorry I dumped you in the middle of a field trip and didn't even explain it to you. Everything happened so fast. But Moze is right, neither of us meant to embarrass you or hurt you, I promise."

Suzy's eyes narrowed as she listened. When Ned finished speaking, no one said anything at first. After a few moments Suzy let out a breath, shook her head, and turned away. She walked over to Loomer and grabbed his arm.

"Come on Billy" she said firmly. "Let's go."

Loomer looked at Ned and Moze and started to protest until he saw the look on Suzy's face, then he meekly followed her.

Ned turned to face Moze and let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that's over. That wasn't as bad as I thought."

Moze shook her head.

"Knowing Suzy, this isn't the last we'll hear about it. But there's nothing else we can do about it right now. Might as well get on the bus and go home."

That evening Ned and Moze decided to hang out at Ned's house and watch a movie, in hopes of putting their talk with Suzy out of their minds. After debating for a few minutes about which movie to watch, Moze and Ned decided on _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_. Ned made some popcorn and a couple of his famous sandwiches, and soon the two were cuddling on the couch.

About midway through the movie, Moze lifted her head from where it was resting on Ned's chest and looked at him.

"Hey Ned" she said softly, drawing his attention from the movie

"Yeah?"

"I know we're both probably trying not to think about it, but I had a question for you about our talk with Suzy earlier."

Ned raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What kind of question?" he asked in a hesitant voice

"Nothing bad" Moze assured him. "I was thinking about when you told Suzy that when she came back to Polk, you were just about to tell me you liked me. Is that true?"

Ned smiled and blushed ever so slightly.

"Yeah, actually when she showed up and surprised us in the hallway, I was just about to admit my feelings to you. Then when Suzy popped up I freaked out and lost my nerve."

"Ned," Moze responded, a smile spreading widely across her face, "I was about to do the same thing"

Ned laughed

"Geez Moze, now I get why you acted so weird! I thought you'd be thrilled to see Suzy but you seemed as freaked out as I was. I didn't understand why, especially since you had just told Faymen he should go back to his home country to play soccer. I figured you'd be happy to see a friendly face considering how upset the decision must have made you"

Now Moze blushed.

"Actually, I have a confession to make. I told Faymen to go because I'd just found out you liked me."

"Wait, you KNEW I liked you even before the field trip?" Ned was stunned. "How did you know that? Wait, did Cookie tell you? That Cyborg is dead when I see him!"

"No, no, Cookie didn't tell me anything. I got a note saying Ned likes you. That's how I found out."

Ned frowned.

"What note?"

"Faymen was telling me I had to time was up and he needed to know my decision on if he should go or not, and a crumpled up piece of paper hit me in the head. I uncrumpled it and it said Ned likes you! I have no idea where it came from. I actually wondered if maybe YOU sent it to me."

"No, it wasn't me Moze, I swear."

Moze furrowed her brow.

"Then where could it have come from?"

Ned shrugged

"Maybe the magical relationship fairy sent it. Or cupid. Or are they the same thing? You know, I never really understood who or what cupid is anyway."

Moze smiled warmly at him.

"What?" Ned asked, noticing the look she was giving him.

"Sometimes I don't think you realize how cute you can be, that's all."

Ned smiled back as Moze moved towards him and gave him a light but tender kiss. The kiss deepened, and soon the two were wrapped around each other, making out on the couch, the movie still playing but forgotten about.

The next day at school it became clear very quickly that Suzy's wrath towards Ned and Moze would not be settled with just one conversation. When Ned and Moze arrived, the first thing they noticed was Ned's locker. Someone (probably Suzy) had taped a huge sign on his locker that said NED BIGBY: LIAR, CHEATER, LOSER. Ned hurriedly tore it down. Fortunately, they'd gotten to school a little early and not too many people had seen it, though Ned knew through the magic of gossip that word about it would spread.

"It's going to be a long final week at Polk if this is what's in store" Ned moaned to Moze.

"Don't let Crabgrass get to you" Moze responded sympathetically. "That's what she wants."

Cookie and Lisa arrived a few minutes later, and Ned filled them both in. Lisa was shocked Suzy would act that way, but Cookie quickly jumped to Ned's defense.

"My boy Ned here is quite a catch and Suzy knows it" he said confidently. "Since she can't have him, she's out to make sure no one can!"

"Lighten up Cook" Moze responded with a frown. "This is Suzy Crabgrass we're talking about, not Rambo."

But as the day wore on, things didn't get any easier. A sign appeared on all the girls bathrooms that said: Girls Restroom (and Ned Bigby) and Moze discovered in woodshop that two of her projects had been damaged. One was repairable, but the other was lost. Mr. Chopsaw was sympathetic, but his best advice to Moze was "If someone is chopping down the trees of your life, make furniture out of them!" which Moze found maddeningly unhelpful.

Much to Ned's relief, Loomer didn't seem interested in going after him. For the most part, Loomer and Crony just screwed around with each other during classes and igbnored him completely. However, at the end of science class, Loomer approached Ned with a note.

"Hey Bigby" Loomer said in his usual angry voice, "This is from Suzy. Read it." He shoved a folded note into Ned's chest as he walked away laughing.

Ned opened the note. Inside all that was written was: Meet me before your last class by my locker. Don't keep me waiting. –Suzy

The bell rang for the end of class and Moze quickly gathered her books. Suzy was at the back of the classroom walking towards her and Moze didn't want another confrontation like the day before. Unfortunately, in her haste, Moze dropped a book on the ground and by the time she had picked it up, Suzy had reached her.

"Hey Mosely" Suzy said in a surprisingly pleasant tone

"Hey…..Suzy" Moze responded, uncertainly.

"Listen, I wanted to apologize for yelling at you yesterday, and for messing with you today. I realized you didn't do anything wrong. It's really Ned I should be mad at. He's the one who dumped me for you."

Moze was completely thrown off by this sudden change but was grateful Suzy was being understanding, at least to her.

"Thanks I guess. So….. can we go back to being friends again, or whatever it is we are?"

Suzy smiled

"Sure Jennifer, I'd like that. Well, I have to be going but I'm glad we cleared things up!"

Suzy waved and walked away, leaving Moze feeling very confused.

 _Ok_ Moze thought to herself _Is it just me or is Suzy acting not at all like she usually would? Oh well, at least I have my friend back, and hopefully she's not too mean to Ned._

Ned headed towards Suzy's locker, dozens of thoughts racing through his head. He really wasn't sure what to expect. Was Suzy planning an attack? Was she going to threaten him? Did she have a practical joke planned? Did she want to legitimately talk?

As Ned reached her locker, Suzy was already there, waiting for him. Ned gaped. Suzy had apparently changed clothes. Earlier that day she'd had on a green long sleeved top and a white skirt. Not anymore. Suzy had changed into a beautiful (and rather form fitting) red silk dress with spaghetti straps and handkerchief hem skirt that fell to right around her knees. Her hair, which had been in a ponytail most of the day, was now loose and flowed down her shoulders.

"Hi Ned" Suzy said in a friendly and a little bit sultry voice.

"Hi Suzy" he responded with a bit of hesitation. "What's going on? You going to some formal event or something?"

"Oh, you like my dress?" she asked innocently. "I thought I'd wear something special for you."

"For me?" Ned asked, confused. "Why?"

Suzy slowly approached him. Ned backed up until he was up against the wall on the opposite side of the hall from her locker. Ned also realized at this moment that the hall was completely empty. There should've been students going by headed to class, but no one was around.

"Where is everyone?"

Suzy smiled sweetly, but Ned detected a certain amount of fakeness to the smile

"Billy and his friends have arranged for us to have a few minutes alone."

"Um, that wasn't really necessary Suzy. Besides, Loomer's your boyfriend. I don't think he'd be too pleased to find out what you're doing right now. I'm not exactly pleased either. What are you doing anyway?"

Suzy gave that sweet and somewhat fake smile again.

"Bigby, I'm not letting you go so easily. Loomer may be the guy I'd settle for, but I'd much rather have you."

Suzy had reached where Ned was standing. He tried to back up further, but the wall wasn't going anywhere. Suzy reached up and put her arms around his neck.

"Suzy stop. This isn't…." but his words were cut off as Suzy pressed her lips against his. Ned was too shocked for a moment to respond, and in that moment, Suzy pressed herself into his body. Her mouth attacked his hungrily, and her tongue slipped into his mouth. The pure shock of a girl putting her tongue in his mouth for the first time caused Ned to snap out of his temporary state of stupor. He shoved her back gently but firmly.

"Suzy what the hell!" he exclaimed. "I'm with Moze and that's not changing1 Don't ever do that again!"

Ned turned to flee. As he did he heard Suzy call after him.

"I'm not done with you yet Ned Bigby."

Ned successfully escaped to his final class. He passed by Crony, who was blocking the hall refusing to let anyone by. To his surprise, Crony didn't try to stop him. As Ned ran by, Crony suddenly announced that the hallway would re-open in 2 minutes once the mess was cleaned up. Ned didn't stop to ask what he was talking about, but kept on going until he'd reached the safety of his final class of the day, Life Science.

Class passed by in a blur for Ned. Loomer came in a few minutes after he'd arrived and didn't even acknowledge him, which just added to the weirdness of Ned's day. When the final bell rang, Ned eagerly dashed to Moze's locker, looking forward to seeing her more than ever.

Moze looked up as Ned ran towards her. He looked flushed and even a bit nervous.

"You ok?" she asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine" came his response. He was panting a bit from running but otherwise didn't look out of sorts.

"So you'll never guess what happened in my math class today."

"What?" Ned asked, still catching his breath from his sprint.

"Suzy came up to me and actually apologized for giving me a hard time!"

Ned looked stunned.

"The only thing is, I think she's still mad at you. She told me she didn't have a reason to be mad at me, and that you were the one she should be upset with. So I'd still be careful, I'm sure she's still got some nasty surprises in store for you."

Ned turned a little white as Moze said this.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Moze asked him, noticing that he seemed very uncomfortable. "Did something happen? You know you can tell me anything."

Ned froze at first, then seemed to snap out of it and shook his head.

"No Moze, nothing happened. Nothing at all. I promise."

 **So hopefully I am able to post the next chapter next week. I know we haven't even gotten to the middle school graduation yet but that is coming up very soon. At some point the story will speed up a bit, as going through their entire high school years at this rate would take like 1000 chapters. I hope everyone is enjoying so far!**


	5. Graduation

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting this latest chapter! Unfortunately my schedule got a bit hectic, but I've been looking forward to continuing the story! As mentioned previously, I won't be able to update next week but hopefully the following week I'll be able to get back into my weekly routine. Enjoy chapter 5!**

The music from the school band wafted through the afternoon air, the sun was shining brilliantly down on the graduates of James Polk middle school, and Moze was not happy. Something had been bothering Ned over the final few days of school. He had been _awkward_ around her. That just never happened. The only time he'd been awkward before was while they were figuring out their feelings for each other. Somehow though, this was different.

Moze squinted into the sun as Principal Wright delivered their graduation address. This was supposed to be an exciting day for her. Middle school was officially over. Instead, all she could do was think back to their final few days at Polk and worry. Sure, she and Suzy had patched things up, and the volleyball team had won an end of the year tournament, and she and Ned had been voted class couple, but somehow none of that mattered to her right now.

Moze shifted in her seat and glanced towards Ned. He and Cookie were sitting side by side and whispering to each other. Moze wished she had someone to talk to, but because the class was sitting in alphabetical order, she was sitting between two people she really didn't even know.

 _Bigby, Cook, Crabgrass_ Moze thought to herself. The three people she was closest to were all lucky enough to get to sit together. The nearest person to her right now that she knew was Martin Qwerly, but she was grateful he was several people away from her. With his tendency to run at the mouth, she doubted whether she'd even be able to hear the graduation festivities going on. Of course, as distracted as she was, she wasn't really listening all that much anyway.

Suzy noticed Moze looking in her direction and gave a small wave. Moze waved back, wishing she could talk to her friend. Cookie, who was seated between Ned and Suzy, turned to Suzy and whispered something, drawing her attention away from Moze. Moze shifted her gaze back to Ned, who looked uncomfortable with whatever the conversation was going on between Cookie and Suzy.

Moze wished she could trade places with Cookie, not just so she could sit with her boyfriend, but also so she could act as a buffer zone. Suzy had told her she was still furious with Ned for dumping her, and Moze was sure Ned was uncomfortable having only Cookie between him and Suzy right now.

With nothing else to do besides listening to the graduation speech, Moze allowed her mind to wander back to their last couple of days at Polk. A memory from their second to last day entered her mind and added to the unease she'd been feeling. She remembered she'd been heading to one of her classes and Ned had practically walked into her, coming out of a seemingly empty classroom. When she'd asked him what he was doing, he'd tensed up and insisted he'd walked into the wrong room by mistake. Moze had peeked into the classroom to see why he'd gone in, and she could have sworn she'd seen someone exiting out the other door. Ned had denied that anyone else was in the room with him.

Moze bit her lip and forced herself not to look in Ned's direction again. She couldn't even allow the thought to enter her mind that Ned was hiding something. If she did, it would just drive her crazy. Whatever was going on with Ned, she hoped he would just tell her what it was.

* * *

Ned was living his worst nightmare. Suzy had been hounding him all week long, trying to steal kisses any chance she could, and pestering him about taking her back. He was so sick of trying to tell her no, but she wouldn't quit. He felt awful hiding it from Moze, but she'd been so relieved when Suzy had forgiven her and they'd become friends again, that he couldn't bear upsetting her and ruining that. So he'd had to bear Suzy's onslaught alone. He couldn't even risk telling Cookie because there was a pretty decent chance he'd blab it to Lisa, or even go straight to Moze.

The current situation wasn't exactly helping Ned either. On the one hand, thanks to the seating arrangements, he was sitting next to Cookie. On the other hand, right next to Cookie was Suzy, who seemed to be enjoying how uncomfortable he was. It didn't help that Cookie was trying to get Suzy to forgive him right in the middle of the graduation ceremonies. Ever since Moze had told Cookie that Suzy was furious with Ned, Cookie had gone out of his way to try to mend fences between them.

It was frustrating to watch, and Suzy made it worse, seemingly getting a twisted pleasure out of watching Cookie waste his time, then throwing it back in Ned's face whenever she managed to get him alone. Usually she'd gloat about how she'd get him back all by herself and then make nasty comments about how pathetic Cookie's attempts were. Worse still, whenever Cookie would plead his case to her, shed pretend to listen and act as though he was making progress. Ned wanted to scream out loud that she was nothing but a liar, but she knew he wouldn't dare.

Right at this moment, Cookie was whispering to Suzy about how good a guy Ned was, and how he'd never knowingly hurt anyone. Ned hated how he felt at this moment. He hated the act Suzy was putting on, and he hated the sick feeling in his stomach. He felt sick because somewhere deep down he felt like maybe he wasn't being such a good guy and that maybe some of the things Cookie was saying weren't quite true anymore.

He risked a quick glance in Moze's direction. She looked a bit distressed. He couldn't blame her. He'd been basically avoiding her all week because he had no idea what to say to her. He was afraid he'd blurt out everything that was going on. It didn't help that she'd come very close to finding out the other day. Suzy had grabbed him while he was walking to class and dragged him into an empty classroom. Before he'd been able to react, shed pressed him up against the wall and planted a deep kiss on his lips. He pulled free after a moment, but when he dashed out of the room he'd nearly bowled Moze over. After making an excuse about getting lost, he'd tried to direct her towards her next class. Instead, to his horror, she'd decided to peek in the classroom to see what had caused him to mistakenly enter it. He was sure she'd see Suzy and discover the truth, but somehow Suzy had ducked out the other door just in time. Moze had acted suspicious but he believed she'd bought his cover story.

Cookie finally finished whispering to Suzy and turned back to Ned. As Ned's gaze left Moze and he turned back to Cookie he happened to quickly lock eyes with Suzy. She gave him a lusty wink and quickly blew a kiss with her lips. Ned looked away as fast as he could. He couldn't wait to get as far away from her as possible. He was grateful that after today, it would be summer vacation and with any luck he wouldn't see Suzy again for quite a while.

* * *

Principal Wright finished his speech and announced it was time for the diplomas to be handed out. Moze couldn't believe her time at Polk was over. Soon she and many of her classmates would be starting school at John Adams high school. As the class began to line up to get their diplomas, Moze's worries about Ned momentarily took a back seat to the bittersweet feeling welling up inside of her. She felt her eyes grow moist as she realized she wouldn't see all the same faces every day anymore. Sure, most of the people she knew were going to the same high school, but a few weren't. Seth for example was going to play basketball at a private high school that had a strong hoops program. Evelyn was going to the same high school. She claimed it was for a high quality education but Moze had a feeling it was to be with Seth. Then there was Coconut Head. Apparently his father had been promoted to some new cushy job and the family was moving out of state. They'd be moving in less than a week.

Moze was so caught up in her emotions she hadn't even heard Ned, Cookie, and Suzy get their diplomas. She suddenly realized there were only a few people left in front of her. She looked out into the audience of family members and spotted her mom and dad. They were beaming with pride. Her mom had a camera out and was snapping pictures as fast as she could. After a few more moments, Principal Wright called out her name. Moze walked across the stage that had been set up for graduation and received her diploma. Principal Wright gave her a huge smile.

"Congratulations Jennifer" he said warmly. "I'm really going to miss you around here. Please come back and visit any time. You'll always be one of my favorite students." His face suddenly became serious. "But please don't tell anyone else I said that. I'm technically not allowed to have favorites." Then he broke back into a wide grin as he shook her hand.

Moze wasn't prepared for the surge of emotion that came. Her voice cracked as she responded.

"Thank you Mr. Wright" she managed. "I'm gonna miss Polk a whole lot. You were the best teacher and principal ever."

She couldn't manage any more words and dashed off stage so no one would see the tears streaming down her face. She had never expected it to be this hard to say goodbye to middle school.

* * *

For Ned the rest of graduation went by in a blur. Pictures with his family, saying farewell to most of his teachers, and saying goodbye to those who wouldn't be going on to the same high school all blended together. He was surprised to find out that Mr. Kwest would be transferring to the high school to teach the computer classes there and stunned to find out Gordy had put in a transfer request and would also be working at John Adams high school. He hadn't seen Moze since she got her diploma.

When things finally died down, Ned found himself alone outside Polk. He wandered around outside for a while, walking amongst the tables where he'd so often had lunch with Moze and Cookie. He made his way inside to pay one last visit to his locker. He lingered by it for a few minutes, memories flooding through his mind. He remembered his short-lived time as "The Revenger" and all the crazy traps he'd set up, he recalled Martin, Coconut Head, and a few others doing an anti-rain dance to get out of dodgeball, and he thought about all the times he'd stood right where he was standing now, with Cookie and Moze, planning out crazy schemes or trying to help solve a problem. Suddenly his thoughts were unexpectedly interrupted.

"Mr. Bigby! I'm surprised to see you here. Seems to me like you were always trying to find ways to get OUT of here, and now I find you here when you could be outside with your friends enjoying the start of your summer break!"

Ned smiled at the familiar voice and turned to see Mr. Sweeney standing outside his classroom, a bemused look on his face.

"Hi Mr. Sweeney" he responded. "Just taking one last walk down memory lane."

Mr. Sweeney raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes you surprise me Mr. Bigby. I wouldn't have expected you of all people to give leaving here a second thought."

Ned smiled.

"This school had a pretty big influence on me Mr. Sweeney. It's where I spent three years learning everything from better study habits, to running school stores and talent shows, being in plays, dealing with bullies, getting schoolwork done on time, understanding relationships, and…"

"And becoming a fine young man" Mr. Sweeney interrupted, giving Ned a smile.

"Thanks Mr. Sweeney. You know, I'm actually going to miss your Science classes. I still remember when you kept the class from going to lunch on time so you could get us to understand more about spiders."

Mr. Sweeney chuckled.

"Well Mr. Bigby, if the class had been paying attention that day, I wouldn't have had to do that, but you also taught me something that day. I used to think daydreaming was simply a waste of time, but you showed me that sometimes it can be used as a way to help with problem solving, as long as you don't do it in the middle of one of my lectures."

Ned nodded in agreement.

"Well Mr. Sweeney I should probably finish my last walk around the school. I don't want to take so long that my parents start to worry about where I am."

"Very good Mr. Bigby. Oh, and one more thing: You may not believe this but I am actually going to miss having you in my class. Good luck in high school Mr. Bigby. Remember what you learned here and you will do just fine."

Ned smiled and shook Mr. Sweeney's hand. Mr. Sweeney turned and walked back into his classroom. Ned lingered for a moment, then turned and started walking down the hall.

A few minutes later, Ned had passed by his life science classroom when he heard a noise. At first he wasn't sure what it was. He slowly moved in the direction the noise seemed to be coming from. As he got closer to the source of the sound, he could tell it was someone softly crying. He reached Mr. Chopsaw's classroom, and could tell whoever was crying was inside. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should leave whoever it was alone, but after debating for a few seconds, he decided to at least check on them to see if he could help in some way. As he entered the classroom, he was surprised by who he saw.

"Moze?" he asked, surprised and immediately concerned.

Moze looked up, startled. Her eyes were red and puffy. She had clearly been crying for a while. Ned had never seen her like this and it shocked him. He wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"N-Ned" she stammered. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just taking a final walkthrough the halls of Polk. I even ran into Mr. Sweeney. What's….. what's wrong? Did something happen?"

Moze took a moment to gather some of her composure before responding.

"It just really hit me" she said slowly, trying to keep her voice from cracking. "It's over. Our time here. It's never gonna be the same. I guess I've gotten used to seeing the same people every day. I don't know if I'm really ready to say goodbye yet. I came in to see if Mr. Chopsaw was here, and to maybe do a last woodshop project. When I got in here and the classroom had been cleaned up for the summer, it just really hit me that this was it and I don't know, I just kind of broke down."

Ned walked over and put a comforting arm around her.

"Moze you're one of the strongest people I know. You never let anything bother you that much, and you pretty much never cry, but you're allowed to be upset. This is a big change. High school is gonna be great but it's also gonna be different. I get it. I get why you're hurting and why it sucks to say goodbye to Polk. I had a nice moment with Sweeney and it reminded me that even though I hated school here, I also loved it. I'm gonna miss it here too. A lot more than I thought I would."

Moze put her head on his shoulder.

"It just sucks you know?" she said with a sad sigh.

Ned turned his face towards her and kissed her on top of her head.

"We'll get through it" he said matter-of-factly.

After a few moments of silence, Moze picked her head up and looked Ned in the eyes.

"Ned, these last few days have been really weird. This is the first time we've been alone together since that messy day with Suzy. I need to ask you something. You've been acting really weird since then. Is there something you haven't told me? If there is, you can trust me. Just tell me whatever it is ok?"

Ned stared silently at her for a moment, then cracked his lopsided grin.

"Moze, nothing is going on. It's just been a crazy final few days of school. You know how it is. Speaking of which, I didn't get a chance to tell you how pretty you looked today at graduation."

Moze looked intently into his eyes. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, she spoke.

"Thank you Ned. I appreciate honesty"

Ned's smile became uneasy but he kept it up. Her choice of words was not lost on him. He knew now she suspected something. The urge to tell her the truth about Suzy was strong, but he resisted it. Instead he opted to change the subject.

"Claire Sawyer is hosting that end of the year graduation pool party at her house. We're supposed to be there in about half an hour. We told her we'd go so we should probably head home so we have time to get ready, don't you think?"

Moze's eyes bored into his. It seemed as though she hadn't blinked in ages. It was almost as if she was trying to see inside him to study his soul. He swallowed, hoping she'd switch her focus to the pool party. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally turned her gaze from him.

"Fine. Let's go back home and get our swimsuits. If you meet me at my front door when you're ready, my mom can drive us."

Even though her voice was calm, Ned detected an edge to it. He hoped the pool party would help her focus on something else. As she stood up and they turned to leave, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at the screen. _It was a text message from Suzy!_

"Who's texting you?" Moze asked, the suspicion still very much in her voice.

"Just Cookie" he lied. "He's wondering if we'll be on time to the party."

Ned glanced back down at the message: _Can't wait to see you at the pool party cutie. We're gonna have a GREAT time -Suzy_

 **So I know this sort of glosses over their graduation and last days at Polk but the Field Trip episode covered a lot of it and I didn't feel the need to re-hash all of it. The next chapter is gonna be a crucial one and will help speed the story up towards the start of high school for them (finally!) Unfortunately it'll be at least 2 weeks until I can get it up but hopefully it'll be worth the wait for everyone! As always questions/comments/suggestions are always welcome! I hope you've enjoyed it so far!**


	6. The Pool Party

**Hello everyone! I'm sorry this chapter has been so delayed in its arrival! Unfortunately it's sometimes hard to predict when my schedule is going to be haywire and it has definitely gone haywire! I'm still fully committed to this story from beginning to end and I'll do my best to keep you updated on any delays. This latest chapter as promised is a key one and will help speed the story towards high school and I hope you enjoy!**

Ned stared at his reflection in his bedroom mirror and had to admit, he was nervous. Surprisingly, it was not because of the swim trunks he was wearing, even though he didn't really like them. His mom had bought them on one of her many shopping trips to prepare for summer. They were yellow with a pattern of a bunch of blue dolphins jumping out of the water. Not exactly the coolest look, but also not what worried him.

Ned's biggest concern was Suzy. Her text to him was unnerving and had thrown him off completely. What had she meant by _"We're gonna have a GREAT time?"_ Was she planning something? Was she trying to freak him out? Was it a weird joke he didn't understand? And why hadn't he told Moze?

He shook his head, trying to clear it from all the anxious thoughts swirling through his mind. He grabbed a navy blue t-shirt and threw it on, then grabbed his pool towel, flip flops, and sunscreen. He tossed them in a bag and headed out the door. To his surprise (and pleasure) Moze was sitting on his front steps, waiting for him. As soon as she saw him, she flashed him a big smile. The butterflies that had been doing somersaults in his stomach, lessened considerably (though they were still there)

"Hey Bigby, ready for our first big get together with everyone as a couple?"

Ned froze and for a moment wasn't sure how to reply. Unfortunately, the reply that finally did come out was basically panic.

"Wait, was I supposed to do something special? Should I have gotten you a gift? Did I already screw this up before we could even leave my house? MOZE WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?"

The last line basically came out as a yell. Moze's comment about their first big outing as a couple had caught Ned completely unprepared, and now he was panicking. His stress about Suzy grew and now he was also freaking out about screwing this up for Moze. Fortunately for Ned, Moze reacted to his sudden freak out with an amused smile. Before he could work himself up any further, she leaned in and placed a gentile but affectionate kiss on his lips.

"Ned," she said in the tone of voice she used when she was giving him a gentle lecture "When have I ever been the kind of girl who makes a big deal out of things? I mean okay, yes, I made a big deal about my first kiss with Faymen, but let's be honest, that whole relationship was happening while I was also sorting out my feelings for you, so I think I deserve a bit of leeway there. When I said it was our first big outing as a couple, I just meant I'm really psyched for it. I don't want you to do anything special except be you. I mean sure I wanna show you off, and I hope you'll want to do the same with me. That's it. I swear. You can relax."

Ned grinned for a moment, then his smile faded a bit.

"Sounds good Moze. Although I'm sorry about my trunks. My mom apparently decided dolphins were cool"

Her eyes drifted to his swim trunks and she smiled sympathetically.

"Ok, going to be a bit harder to show you off in those, but I'm always up for a challenge. At least I won't have a hard time convincing people I'm only into you because of your looks"

They both laughed.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, courtesy of a ride from Mrs. Bigby, Ned, Moze, Cookie, and Lisa all arrived at Claire Sawyer's house for her graduation pool party. Claire's parents were lawyers (probably why Claire was so determined to become one as well) and could afford the best things for their family. Moze had been wondering how there'd be enough room for everyone to swim. The answer was obvious. Claire's place was HUGE. There were not one, but TWO pools: an outdoor pool that was actually olympic size, and a standard sized indoor pool as well. There was also a workout area next to the indoor pool filled with all kinds of equipment, from elliptical machines to stairs, to stationary bikes. There were even barbells and dumbbells for weight lifting. Moze felt like she was at a luxury hotel. Clare was standing at the entrance to the outdoor pool, handing out business cards to everyone as they entered.

"Claire Sawyer, future lawyer" she said as Moze and Ned approached, extending a card out for them to take.

"Claire, how many times do we have to go over this?" Ned responded, with just a hint of friendly annoyance in his voice.

"Just making sure everyone has my new number so they'll be ready for high school. I'm sure there will be even more need for my service."

Ned and Moze shared a smile. Cookie stepped forward and grabbed a card as well.

"You have a new number?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"My parents felt that with going to high school, I would require a new phone and an improved service plan. Our previous service provider couldn't provide that, so we switched companies, which resulted in the need to have a new phone number" Claire responded matter-of-factly.

Cookie nodded his head and tried to smile past the awkwardness of the moment.

"Cool. Cool."

He turned to Lisa, who was trying not to laugh at his attempts to not look uncomfortable. Clearly Cookie was not used to being around someone whose family was well off.

"Well my dear" he said in his favorite fake suave voice "Shall we go take a swim or would you prefer the hot tub?"

Now Lisa finally did laugh, though she did her best to stifle it.

"Sure Simon, lets go for a swim. You could use a cooling off."

The two walked away, with Cookie still trying to look cool and Lisa still fighting back the urge to start giggling.

"I could go for a swim myself" Moze said to Ned, and she gestured towards the pool with a nod of her head. "Wanna join Cookie and Lisa or would you prefer to keep your distance for a bit from _Cool Cookie_?"

The way Moze said Cool Cookie, with just the hint of mocking in her tone, made Ned burst out into laughter, which Moze quickly joined in on. Ned reached out and took Moze by the hand and led her to the outdoor pool, near enough to Cookie and Lisa that it would be easy to join them, but far enough for just a bit of privacy. Ned shed his tshirt and had just gotten out his sunscreen when his mouth dropped wide open. Moze had come to the party wearing a tank top and athletic shorts. She had now taken them off and was standing in front of him, and Ned's eyes were popping out of his head. Moze was wearing a navy blue two piece bathing suit. The top was designed like a tank with spaghetti straps, but it was designed like a crop top and left her midriff exposed. The bottom part was a bikini bottom, complete with strings securing each side to her waist. Ned had never seen a more beautiful sight.

Moze had an amused look on her face as she watched Ned practically drool at her appearance. She'd had him in mind the minute shed seen this bathing suit while shopping for the party. She'd had to convince her mom it wasnt too over the top, and that there would be other girls at the party probably wearing a lot less. After some pleading, and reminders that she was going to be in high school now, her mom had finally agreed to let her get it. The way Ned was looking at her now, she knew she'd made the right choice.

"It's called a tankini" she said in an amused voice, breaking the silent hold she had over him.

Ned blushed a deep shade of red, deeper than she'd ever seen him blush, and she began to wonder just what exactly was going through his mind while he was staring at her. The thought made her blush a bit too. Ned finally seemed to shake himself out of whatever stupor he'd fallen into at her appearance.

"I, uh, I really like it." he stammered, clearly at a loss for what to say.

Moze waited a moment, savoring how uncomfortable he was...how turned on he was at how she looked. _Did I really just think that?_ she asked herself. Finally, she relented, and pulled close to him, planting a relatively quick, but surprisingly passionate, and...dare she say...hot kiss on his lips. She even surprised herself at the intensity of the kiss, and had to pull back a little quicker than she wouldve liked. She had suddenly had the urge to push her tongue into his mouth, something she'd never even thought of before, and she had a feeling that if she did, things might've gotten a little bit out of hand. As she backed away and looked at Ned's expression, she could tell he was as close to getting swept up in the kiss as she had been, and they both blushed again. _Seriously, what is going on with me?_ Moze wondered. She'd never had any thoughts like this any of the times she'd kissed Faymen, or the few times she'd kissed Seth either. She decided they needed a distraction, and fortunately they had a big one right next to them.

"Ready to hit the pool?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Ned quickly shook his head, as though trying to regain his focus, then smiled.

"Yeah, lets hit the water."

Moze grinned, and without warning Ned, she broke into a sprint and jumped feet first into the water.

* * *

Ned was having the time of his life. He and Moze spent some time just swimming and talking, and then they joined Cookie, Lisa, Coconut Head, and Martin for some games of Marco Polo. Now things were quieting down a bit. Moze and Lisa were sitting at the edge of the pool talking, Coconut Head was being chased by Loomer somewhere, and Martin was talking to Claire. Ned was standing in the water in one of the corners of the pool, talking to Cookie, who had apparently noticed the extra attention Ned had been giving Moze.

"Ned you've been eyeing her like she's your favorite kind of candy. What gives?"

Ned grinned.

"Well she IS my girlfriend." He shook his head in a bit of disbelief. "It still sounds incredible to be able to say that. Moze is my girlfriend."

He chuckled softly.

Cookie looked confused.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking about how crazy our last year in middle school ended up being. I started out the year with one girl, Moze ended up dating another guy, and somehow it all ended up as best as it could have. I mean, lets be honest Cook, it got pretty crazy there a few times. Remember the party at Seths house? I went with Missy, was surprised by Suzy, then ended up kissing Moze. And that kiss... I mean, wow. It took a little more craziness and probably a fair amount of luck, but now here we are. She's my girlfriend, I'm her boyfriend, and I'm actually looking FORWARD to high school. I'll get to see her almost every day. How great is that?"

Cookie rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Yup, you got it bad for her Ned. Kind of like what Lisa and I have. I know how you feel."

Ned snorted trying to hold back a laugh.

"Cookie, you and Lisa haven't gone through HALF of the stuff Moze and I have. Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping everything works out for you guys, but give it a little time so you don't get ahead of yourself. Remember Vanessa? You would've turned your entire world upside down for her and you only knew her for a few weeks, and you've really only known Lisa since we started going to Polk. I've known Moze pretty much my whole life."

Cookie looked at Ned with a mixture of amazement, confusion, and maybe a trace of hurt

"What's gotten into you?" he asked. "You definitely werent this deep of a thinker before. Are you saying you think I shouldn't date Lisa? Or that I'm going too fast? Or...well, what ARE you saying?"

Ned clapped his friend on the shoulder.

"Cookie, you will always have my support. Just be you, and don't rush. Whatever happens with me and Moze, don't feel like you have to be on the same pace with Lisa. And don't worry, Moze being my girlfriend won't change things with us. You'll always be one of my best friends. Unless you do something crazy like move to France and start wearing a beret."

Cookie and Ned laughed and Cookie seemed much more at ease.

"You're right Ned, I think I was worried about our friendship now that you and Moze are together. And thanks for the advice. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it" Ned responded. His eyes turned towards Moze, still in conversation with Lisa. Almost as if sensing his gaze on her, Moze turned in his direction and, seeing him looking at her, flashed him one of her dazzling smiles that made him feel all warm inside. He grinned back. Moze made a small motion with her hand which Ned understood to mean she was asking if he could go get her something to drink. He gave her a nod, letting her know he understood her request and would take care of it.

"Geez, you two can communicate without even talking!" Cookie exclaimed in amazement.

Ned laughed and turned to climb out of the pool. As he did he noticed someone a short distance away, staring at him intently. His blood ran cold. It was Suzy Crabgrasss.

* * *

After seeing Suzy staring at him, Ned had chosen to try to ignore her. He had gotten out of the pool and gone into Clare's house, to the room where the drinks and snacks were being kept. It wasn't a large room. Clare's parents had obviously chosen it as the snack room because it had a door that led directly to the outdoor pool area. That way they wouldn't have a bunch of teenagers walking around inside most of the house. The only other way out of the room led down a small hall that ended with two doors. One was a bathroom large enough for multiple people to use. It even had 3 toilets in it, separated by stall-like walls. The other door led into the main part of the Sawyer house, and everyone had been told to not go through that door, as no one was allowed into the main house. Besides the indoor pool and the single person bathroom next to it, this room and bathroom were the only other places everyone was allowed to go. Since the room was small, people were opting to grab whatever drinks and food they wanted, and took them back outside to the pool area. There was a couch in the room in case people wanted to sit inside, but at the moment no one was in the room. Except for Ned and Suzy Crabgrass.

Suzy had followed Ned into the room and had closed the door behind them. The door had built in blinds and she had closed them, so they were unable to be seen by anyone outside. Ned hadn't noticed as he was busy deciding which drink Moze would prefer. He had just decided on a can of orange soda when Suzy had come up behind him and wrapped her arms around his upper body. He'd spun around in surprise, thinking maybe it was Moze. It wasn't.

"Suzy what the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed.

"I told you we were going to have some fun" she said in an almost sneering voice.

At that moment Ned realized just how scantily clad Suzy was at that moment. She was wearing a hot pink string bikini. The top was definitely smaller than a typical bikini and the bottom part seemed almost a size too small. Ned doubted Suzy's mother had knowingly allowed her daughter to come dressed like that. His eyes widened at her appearance. Suzy seemed to take that as an invitation and stepped up to him, grabbed his face, and pressed her lips firmly against his. He pulled away as quickly as possible.

"Suzy! Stop!" he exclaimed. "You know we're over, so why are you doing this?"

Suzy grinned mischievously. "We are NOT done Ned Bigby. We are only done when I SAY we're done. And right now we're just getting started."

"Are you crazy?" Ned asked in bewilderment. "What the heck has gotten into you? Did Loomer do something to your brain or something?"

"Forget Loomer" Suzy responded seductively. "It's you I want."

Ned barely had time to react when Suzy put both her hands on his chest and pushed. Hard. He stumbled backwards and ended up falling onto the couch. Suzy had evidently been planning for exactly that, as she pounced on him, jumping on top of him, and once again assaulted his mouth with hers. Ned was in shock from the ferocity of Suzy's move that for a moment he froze up. In that moment everything went horrifically wrong. Suzy jammed her tongue into his mouth and kissed him with as much passion as she could muster. Ned's mouth was frozen partly open in surprise, making it look like he was kissing her back. This mattered because in that same moment, the door to the pool area opened, and Moze stuck her head in. At first she didn't see them.

"Ned? What happened? I've been waiting for that drink for-" she stopped cold in mid sentence. Ned knew he'd never forget the look of horror and then raw pain on her face as her eyes fell on the scene of Suzy on top of him. Ned was still so shocked by this quick chain of events that he was slow to react. By the time he regained his composure enough to push Suzy off of him, Moze had already slammed the door and was gone. Ned ran to the door, but Moze had slammed it so hard that it stuck. Ned tried several times to yank it open. When he finally forced it open, many precious seconds had passed. Suzy was sitting on the couch now, and Ned could swear he heard her cackling softly. As soon as the door was open, Ned flew outside, desperately looking for Moze. Unfortunately, Loomer had attracted a large crowd around the pool. He and Croney were throwing random people into the pool, to raucous cheers. Ned had to fight through the crowd. A few people pushed him back and it took him several minutes to finally make it through the large group. As soon as he cleared the crowd, he was greeted by the sight of Cookie running towards him, a panicked look on his face.

"Ned!" he exclaimed. "Ned! What happened?"

"No time to explain!" Ned practically yelled back, fighting to control the panic that was quickly taking over his mind. "Where's Moze?"

"She left! She was in tears and she was yelling for anyone who had a car to give her a ride home. Missy offered her a lift. They just drove off!"

Ned had to fight his own emotions to keep his voice level.

"I need to get home right now. Is my phone still with my stuff?"

"Yeah, with your towel and stuff, right where you left it."

Ned ran over to his belongings and fished his phone out of the pocket of the extra pair of shorts he'd brought. First he tried calling Moze, but the phone went straight to voicemail. She'd turned off her cell phone. Not good. He opted not to leave a voicemail at that moment and instead called him mother. She was deeply concerned that he was asking for a ride home so early, but agreed to come pick him up. The wait for her to arrive was agonizing, and the drive back to his house even more so. As soon as they pulled into the driveway, he jumped out of the car and dashed over to Moze's house. There were no cars in the driveway, so either Missy had dropped Moze off and left or they'd gone somewhere else. It also meant Moze's parents weren't home. He rang the doorbell several times and knocked on the door repeatedly. No one answered. He went around to the back of her house and tried knocking on that door too. Still no response. As a last ditch effort he ran to the side of her house where her room was and yelled her name a few times. The curtains were closed and he saw no sign of movement or light.

Ned slowly walked back to his room, all kinds of thoughts and fears whirling in his mind. He tried to shut them out. He thought about calling Moze again and leaving a message, but decided to wait until he was calmer. He didn't want to risk saying something in a panic that would only make things worse. Instead he went to his room and decided to watch Moze's window from there. If he saw any sign of her, he'd try to get her attention, and hope she was willing to hear him out so he could clear things up. He waited. For hours. He ultimately fell asleep watching, waiting, hoping.

* * *

Three days passed with no sign of Moze. Ned's anxiety was through the roof. He'd gone over to her house the day after he'd sat in his room and fallen asleep watching for her. Her parents were home. Her mom answered the door. When he'd asked to see Moze, all her mom would say was that Moze had said she didn't want to see him. She apologized but wouldn't answer any other questions he asked, like how Moze was and if she knew when Moze would be ready to talk. Her response was always the same: "I'm sorry Ned, I can't tell you anything about Moze right now and she doesn't want to see you. I'm sorry." Ned had finally called Moze and left a long voicemail, trying to explain what had happened with Suzy, and that he wasn't at all interested in her, it had been Suzy coming onto him. He begged Moze to believe him and pleaded with her to call him back. So far she hadn't.

On the fifth day after the party, Ned woke earlier than usual. As he sat up in bed, he heard a car start up. He looked out his window and saw the Moseley's Toyota backing out of their driveway. His heart leaped into his throat as he spotted Moze in the back seat. He couldn't really see her face. Without bothering to dress, he dashed outside in his pajamas, hoping to stop them before they could leave, in hopes of getting some kind of conversation with Moze. But by the time he got outside, the car was down the street, and turning onto the next road. He knew he'd never catch them. Dejectedly, he turned back to his house to go back inside. It was then that he noticed a piece of paper taped to his front door. He tentatively walked over to it. It was a piece of notebook paper, folded in half, and his name was on it, in Moze's handwriting. His hands trembling, Ned removed the note from his door and opened it. It was a letter to him. He began to read it, and his heart fell.

 _Ned,_

 _I don't even know what to say to to you but I needed to say something before I left with my family. I'll explain in a moment. I got your message. I did listen to it. I also talked to Suzy and you may be surprised to learn that she actually admitted the truth to me about what happened. I know you were telling the truth in your message. You may be wondering why, if I knew you weren't cheating on me, why I didn't come and talk to you. It's because I am very angry with you. And hurt. And betrayed. No, you didn't cheat on me. But you did something almost as bad. You lied to me. Suzy had been coming onto you since before graduation. I asked you several times if anything was going on when you were acting weird. You told me REPEATEDLY that nothing was going on. I also know you lied about Suzy texting you. You told me it was Cookie. Ned, you lied to me again and again. A relationship is built on two things. Love and trust. I don't know if I can trust you anymore. Therefore I don't know if we can be in a relationship anymore. I don't even know if I can be friends with you anymore. You've breached my trust in a very serious way. You either don't respect me enough to tell me the truth, or you think so little of me that you think I'll react badly to hearing the truth. Either one is an AWFUL thought. This is painful for me to write. My family asked me a month ago if I wanted to spend the summer with them on a vacation, traveling to different areas of the country. They even asked if I wanted to invite you. I originally told them I'd rather stay home for the summer. I wanted to spend my summer with you. I was looking forward to it more than any other summer. Ever. Then the pool party happened and I found out the truth. I told my parents I wanted to go on the cross country road trip after all. I also said I didnt want to invite you. We just left this morning. My phone will be off for most of the summer. Please do not call me. Do not text me. Do not leave me any messages. I need to be away from you right now. I know this is as hard for you to hear as it is for me to write. I dont know what will happen when I get back. I'll have the whole summer to think about it. I just know that my trust in you has been broken. Our relationship may be over. Our friendship may be over. I honestly don't know right now. Please respect my request to be left alone. I can promise you one thing. Whatever happens when I get back, whatever decision I reach, I will be open and honest with you about it. I may not talk to you right away, and I ask that you let me approach you first, but when I do talk to you, I will be more honest with you than you were with me._

Sincerely,

Jennifer Moseley

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


	7. Summer

**Hello everyone! I'm pleased to announce the wait between chapters this time is much less than last time! Please enjoy chapter 7!**

* * *

For Ned Bigby, summer went by at a snails pace. For the first couple of weeks, he barely left his room. He tried to preoccupy himself with reading, putting the final touches on his survival guide for junior high, video games, basically anything he could think of to distract him from how much he missed Moze. But inevitably he would always find himself gazing towards her window. The blinds were closed, but it hardly mattered as her room was empty anyway. True to her note, Moze hadn't contacted Ned in any way all summer. Twice he'd called her, hoping against hope that she'd answer and they could clear the air. Ned was ready to plead and beg for her forgiveness. He wanted her back as his friend, and as his girlfriend. Both times he'd called, however, her phone was off. It went straight to voicemail, and he didn't leave a message. She'd asked him not to, and even though she'd also asked him not to call at all, he hadn't been able to hold back during those two moments of weakness. He missed her, and it truly felt like he wasn't complete without her. He had a Moze-sized hole in his heart.

After a few weeks of moping, Cookie had come to Ned's rescue. Lisa had gone on a two week vacation with her family and as a result, Cookie had nothing but free time on his hands. Like the true friend he was, he devoted it to Ned, and trying to help him get over his Moze blues. During those two weeks, he planned something every day to get Ned out of his room. They went bowling, to the movies, swimming at the town pool, camping, and even tried paintball, though it was a disaster that ended up with both of them bruised and wishing they'd picked ANYTHING different. By the time the two weeks of practically non-stop guy time had ended, Ned was feeling noticeably better.

After Lisa returned from her family vacation, Cookie spent less time with Ned, but both he and Lisa made sure to stay in regular contact with him and hang out as often as reasonably possible. Ned's parents were also encouraging Ned to get out of the house as much as possible. They knew, just like Cookie, that staring at Moze's empty bedroom wasn't going to help him feel any better. So whenever Cookie or Lisa called Ned's house to see if he wanted to go out and do something, his parents practically said yes before he did.

As the summer wore on, Ned, Lisa, and Cookie seemed to form a similar type of friendship to what Ned, Cookie, and Moze had. The main difference was that the girl in the group was dating Cookie, instead of Ned. But even as Cookie and Lisa continued to grow closer, Ned never felt like a third wheel, or left out. If anything, his friendship with both of them only grew stronger. Ned eventually lost track of how the summer was quickly drawing to a close. Cookie had managed to take his mind almost completely off of Moze. Unfortunately, that all changed one afternoon, just a few days before Labor day, when Cookie, Lisa, and Ned returned to Ned's house after an afternoon of hanging out at a nearby park, and saw the Mosely's car back in the driveway. Moze was back.

* * *

As soon as he saw the Mosely's car in their driveway, Ned's emotions switched immediately from relaxed and jovial to full on panicked. He hadn't been keeping close track of the calendar, unlike the beginning of summer when he counted the days one at a time in a mope. As a result, he was totally unprepared for Moze's arrival back home from her family vacation. Fortunately for him, at that moment no one was in the car. The family was all inside, most likely unpacking. For the moment at least, Ned was spared his first awkward encounter with Moze since the incident with Suzy. He also wasn't ready to hear whatever decisions Moze had likely reached over the summer regarding their future, both for their friendship, and their romance. He hadn't told Cookie that he was scared she was going to not only dump him, but end their friendship. Both prospects he knew, would crush him. He just hoped that a summer away had cooled her anger at him, and that she'd found a way to forgive all the lies he'd told her. In his defense, he knew he'd been trying to protect her feelings, but with a whole summer to think about it, Ned knew the decisions he'd made were not ones he'd ever repeat, whether he was dating Moze or not. As he mulled these things over in his mind, he suddenly felt very exposed and realized Moze could walk outside at any moment, and he needed a little more time to prepare himself, both to brace for the worst, and to hope for the best.

"Hey Cook, Lisa, I'm gonna head inside. You're welcome to come in and hang out if you want. I'm just not ready to see Moze yet, and standing out here isn't exactly going to help me avoid her."

Cookie gave him a sympathetic look.

"I understand Ned. You need time to get ready for whatever's gonna happen. Just know," he paused, placing a hand on Ned's shoulder, "that I'm your best friend no matter what. I've got your back."

Ned smiled and nodded his appreciation. As Cookie let go of Ned's shoulder, Lisa gently took his right hand in hers.

"Ned, Jennifer may be my best friend, but even if things don't work out, you'll still be my friend too. It might be a little weird, but I just wanted you to know, I won't let things change between us. You're a good friend and a nice guy. I really hope things work out for both of you."

Ned gave Lisa a heartfelt hug and thanked her.

"Well Ned," Cookie said, glancing quickly at Moze's house, as if afraid she was going to run outside at that very moment (she didn't.) "Lisa and I have plans to see that romantic comedy that just came out last week. Otherwise we'd be happy to hang out with you a while longer."

"Totally understand" Ned replied. Then after a moment of thought, his eyes lit up. "Did you realize we start high school next week?"

Lisa suppressed a smile. Cookie laughed a little.

"Ned" Lisa replied sweetly "I think you're the only one who didn't realize that. Guess we did a better job helping you relax this summer than we thought!"

Now it was Ned's turn to laugh a little.

"I guess so" he replied, grinning.

After saying their goodbyes, Ned turned and went inside. He'd barely closed the door when he heard an all-to-familiar voice call out "Lisa! Cookie! Is that you? I missed you this summer!"

Ned had to fight the urge to go back outside. In spite of his near-panic about facing Moze, he'd still missed her, and hearing her voice now was almost enough to overcome those fears. But given the timing of Moze appearing outside to greet Cookie and Lisa, it was either an incredible coincidence, or she'd been waiting to see them until he'd gone inside. If that was the case, it didn't bode well for him. He felt an icy chill in his heart. _Does this mean she's made up her mind and she's going to dump me?_ he thought, panic taking over.

* * *

For the next few days, Ned basically hid inside his house. Cookie and Lisa had both called to check and see how he was doing, and to invite him to various things, but he'd declined their invitations and hadn't talked much to them. He didn't want to know if Moze had revealed anything to them. He could read Cookie pretty well, and Lisa didn't have a great poker face either. If Moze had said anything to them about her decisions about Ned, he'd know it without them saying a word, and he didn't want to find out that way. Each day that passed, Ned spent his time helping his mom with school shopping, (he made sure Moze was not outside before he'd go out to get in the car) he read books, he watched TV, and he never, ever dared to look out his window towards Moze's room. He was afraid if he did, he'd see her staring back, and he still just wasn't ready. But he was working on it.

In the meantime he kept his curtains closed. He wondered what Moze thought about that, if she'd noticed. He usually only kept his curtains closed when he needed privacy, and they weren't usually closed for very long. But now they'd been closed since she'd come home. It would certainly be a very noticeable change. _Of course,_ Ned thought to himself, _she'd only notice if she actually still looks at my window, and if she's going to pull the plug on us, maybe she isn't doing that._

The first day of school was looming as Labor day arrived. Ned's family had always had a backyard barbecue to celebrate the holiday, as well as the last day of summer vacation. Typically they invited the Mosley family over, and Ned would always be allowed to invite Cookie as well. This year his mom approached him in the morning and asked him if it was OK before inviting Moze's family. Ned let his mom know he appreciated her considering him and his feelings. But Ned had decided he was ready for whatever Moze was going to tell him. He also wanted to know BEFORE school started, as that would probably be easier on both of them. So he told his mom to go ahead and invite them. He also asked if it was okay to invite both Cookie AND Lisa. His mom assured him it was no problem and to go ahead and invite them over. Normally the cookout started at 1, but Ned made sure to tell Cookie and Lisa to come at 2. That would give him time to talk to Moze.

* * *

Ned was sitting in his backyard, on one of the fold out lawn chairs his mom had gotten at one of the many garage sales she'd frequented. He had to admit the chair was more comfortable than it looked. He glanced around at the other currently empty lawn chairs he'd brought out and set up. He tried to imagine where everyone would probably sit. His dad was over at the grill on the other side of the yard, getting it ready to cook the assortment of meats his mother had picked up at the store. It was just after noon, so he was trying to relax a bit in the time he had before everything got started. He'd just closed his eyes, and was attempting to completely clear his mind of any and all thoughts, when he was interrupted by a voice from behind him.

"You know, for someone who's supposed to be helping, you look more like you're napping."

Ned nearly fell out of the chair and then jumped to his feet. As he quickly turned around to face her, he caught a glimpse of Moze's amused smile before she could hide it.

"Hey Moze" he said, trying to sound far more casual than he felt.

The silence that followed only intensified the awkwardness that both of them were obviously feeling. Moze was looking at Ned with an expression somewhere between curious and intrigued, while Ned was staring intensely at the ground. After what seemed to Ned like an eternity, Moze finally broke the silence, and Ned was almost shocked to hear genuine warmth in her tone.

"It's really good to see you Ned."

He looked up in surprise, and was even more surprised to see a genuine smile on Moze's face.

"Really?" he asked, a bit of uncertainty creeping into his voice. So far this was not at all like he'd expected things to go. Then Moze really threw off his expectations entirely.

"Yeah, Bigby. Really. I missed you this summer." As the words passed from her mouth to Ned's stunned ears, Moze followed them and embraced Ned in an entirely unexpected, but most definitely welcome hug.

Ned didn't want to move an inch. The warm feeling of Moze's hug, her body against his, was heavenly. When Moze finally did pull away, Ned had to stop himself from moving with her to keep the hug going.

"So does this mean we're OK?" the words were out of Ned's mouth before he even thought about them, and he cringed inwardly. He hadn't meant to get to the big topic so quickly. Thankfully Moze didn't get upset or seem to mind. But she did sigh, and Ned felt his heart drop like a stone.

"Well you got right to it, didn't you?" she asked in a faintly amused voice. "No small talk?" she laughed a little. "It's OK, we needed to talk about it anyway, and now is as good a time as any." Moze sighed again. "Look Ned, this summer was really hard on me. And before you interrupt, I'm sure it was just as hard on you. I was hurt so deeply when I found out you'd been lying to me about Suzy. You'd never lied to me like that before, or that much. It was like I didn't even know who you were."

"I'm so sorry Moze"

"I know you are. I also know that you won't do it EVER again. Because if you do, you won't want to face what I'll do to you. It'll make Suzy look like mother Theresa."

Ned gulped. "Understood."

Moze continued. "So that brings us to what I had all summer to try and figure out. Where does this leave us?"

Ned silently braced himself, unsure of what was coming.

Moze was silent for a moment. Then she gave Ned a small smile.

"I'm not going to let this ruin our friendship. We've known each other far too long, and been through way too much for that. Besides, high school is a whole new world. We're gonna need all the friends we can get!"

Ned breathed a sigh of relief, but the relief disappeared quickly as Moze's smile faded.

"Now for the hard part," she said, a hint of pain in her voice. "I still care about you Ned. A lot. And I have feelings for you beyond friendship. But this was a big breach of my trust, and we hadn't even been going out that long. I can't just jump back into a relationship with you after that. I don't even know if you acted that way because we were dating instead of just friends, or if you change who you are when you're in a relationship, or...or... I don't even know. That's the problem. This whole thing happened before we'd even really gotten our feet wet as a couple. I just can't..." Moze gulped, her eyes were now misty. "I can't be in that kind of a relationship with you. At least, not right now. I need to know the person I'm with, the person I care about, truly has my back and won't lie to me. Its an entirely different kind of relationship, and I don't have trust in you in that kind of relationship. Maybe that will change, I don't know. But right now I want to be your friend Ned...but that's it."

Ned felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He wanted to scream, to protest, to tell Moze she was making a mistake. But he couldn't find the words. In fact, he couldn't seem to find ANY words in that awful, awful moment. Moze seemed to sense this and took the initiative.

"Ned, I know this hurts. Believe me, I'm hurting too. But I am going to do everything I can to keep this from being awkward. I'll need your help. I can treat you normally like I always have as your friend. We don't need to act awkward, and we can hang out and be comfortable around each other. But only if you think you can do that too. I know it won't be completely awkward free, but you and I have known each other a long time, and if anyone can make a friendship work in these circumstances, its us. What do you think?"

Ned mulled over Moze's words for a moment before responding. He wanted to be sure he worded it right.

"Moze, I owe you at least that much. I'll do my best to do exactly what you're asking. But you need to know something as well. I'm still crazy about you. I'm not going to give up on us being more than friends. I'm going to do whatever it takes to prove myself. I'll do my best not to make it weird, but you need to know that."

Now Moze gave Ned her most heartfelt smile yet. She stepped forward and hugged him again, this time more tightly than the first time. She turned her head slightly and whispered in his ear: "I know you won't give up. Neither will I."

* * *

The labor day cookout was in full swing. Moze was talking to Lisa and Ned's dad, both moms were deep in conversation, and Moze's dad was deep in a conversation with another neighbor the Bigbys had invited. Ned and Cookie were sitting together, munching on hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, and everything else that the Bigby family was serving up. They were talking about what Ned and Moze had discussed.

"So it sounds like she left the door open for you two to get back together, you know, in the dating kind of way" Cookie said, hopefully.

Ned leaned back in his chair and sighed, fixing his gaze on Moze.

"Yeah, and she sounded supportive when I told her I wasn't giving up on that."

Cookie shook his head. "You two just got together before summer started, and now you're both technically single again. That's a lot for one summer."

"At least I got my friend back" Ned said, still gazing at her.

Almost as if she'd heard Ned speaking about her, Moze's eyes moved from looking at Lisa to looking at him, and she flashed him a smile that took his breath away. _She is so beautiful. So perfect_ he thought to himself. _This is going to be difficult just being friends, even if it ends up being temporary. I'm gonna want to hold her. To kiss her. It's going to be so hard to have to hold back._ He finally turned his gaze away from Moze, who'd returned her attention to Lisa. He looked over at Cookie, who raised an eyebrow.

"You sure you can do this Ned? Go back to friendship? No way that's gonna be easy."

Ned cocked a half grin.

"You're right" he said, a determination in his voice, "It's not going to be easy. But I can do it."

Inside, Ned felt a swirl of emotions. _Well,_ he thought, _no matter what happens, it's going to be a very interesting start to high school._

* * *

 **Well that concludes this chapter! Hope you like it so far! High school arrives at last in the next chapter. I'll do my best to get it out as soon as I can!**


	8. Back To (New) School

**Hello everyone! I know it's been a LONG TIME between chapters but this one is FINALLY here and I hope it was worth the wait! Hopefully the wait won't be so long for the next one!**

* * *

Ned felt sick to his stomach. He was on the bus on his way to his first day at John Tyler high school, and he did NOT feel ready. He'd agonized for an hour simply over what to wear, and he hadn't been able to eat anything, even though his mom had made his favorite breakfast. He was nervous. Nervous to the point of wanting to puke. He had left Polk middle school at the top. Now he was starting all over again. He was the little fish in the ocean again. A freshman. _Hopefully not fresh MEAT_ he thought worriedly. He remembered all too well the rather LARGE amount of bullying he'd received from Loomer, especially his first year at Polk. He was terrified of what HIGH SCHOOL bullies might be capable of.

Sitting next to him, Cookie was just as nervous. He was intensely focused on the computer screen inside his glasses, and the remote control in his hand was moving around almost in a blur. All he had said to Ned was that he had an idea on how to make their first day better. Then he'd flicked the power switch on the corner of the rim of his glasses, and hadn't said anything since.

Almost as if sensing Ned looking at him, Cookie suddenly flicked the power switch, turning off the computer in his glasses, and turned to Ned with an expression of excitement on his face.

"Ned, I did it! We are going to rule high school now!"

Ned frowned. Usually when Cookie came up with an idea, it tended to blow up in their faces.

"What is it Cook? Please tell me you didn't hack into the school and rename the bathrooms after us or something."

"Bathrooms?" Cookie frowned. "Why would I…. never mind. You'll like this idea better than that."

"I'm all ears" Ned replied, trying to keep the worried tone out of his voice.

"I researched every teacher on each of our schedules so we know what to expect before we even set foot in their classrooms!"

Ned's eyes widened in surprise.

"Cookie that's BRILLIANT!"

"I know!" Cookie exclaimed, beaming with pride. "The only teacher I couldn't get was the science teacher since they didn't have one listed on our schedules, and I couldn't find one listed on the school faculty list either, but since we have that class together, and today we have it first thing, it won't be a mystery for long anyway."

Ned smiled and clapped his best friend on the back.

"Cook, sometimes you really surprise me, and this time that's a good thing."

"Thanks…..I think" Cookie replied with a slightly confused look. He quickly brightened again and smiled. "The only schedule I wasn't able to research was Moze's because she hasn't shown it to us yet. Lisa is going to be happy though. We have three classes together and the teachers all sound great!"

 _Moze._ Just hearing her name brought the butterflies right back into Ned's stomach. He hadn't talked to her since they decided on resetting their relationship to the friendship level. They'd both been too busy with last minute school shopping trips and getting ready for the school year. Moze's mom had decided to drive her to school for her first day of high school so she wasn't on the bus either. Ned had tried calling her before she left, but her phone was off so he'd simply left a quick voicemail saying he was looking forward to seeing her at school. He'd had to bite his tongue to keep from adding "I miss you" at the end. _Even if there aren't any bullies,_ Ned thought to himself, _this whole just being friends' thing might kill me anyway._

"Ned are you ok?"

Cookie's question snapped Ned out of his reverie. He shook his head as though he were trying to clear out some cobwebs.

"Yeah I'm fine. Still just a little nervous I guess."

"Well you'd better snap out of it quick, because we're here."

* * *

Ned scanned the lockers, looking for the one with the number that matched the index card the school had mailed to him. According to the card, his locker number was 585, and his combination was 32-9-17. He'd been dismayed to find out Cookie had locker number 472, which was on the same floor but at almost the opposite end. In some ways, it might as well have been in an entirely different building. The floor was packed with freshmen, and Ned couldn't see too far in any direction through the mass of people. Aside from finding his locker, he also didn't see any familiar faces, which made him even more nervous than he already was. At last he spotted the number 585 on top of a locker near where he currently stood. He waded through the sea of people, and just as he reached his new locker, he heard a familiar voice, and his heart jumped into his throat.

"Hey Bigby! I guess we're locker neighbors this year!"

He turned around and couldn't keep the smile off his face for anything in the world. Smiling right back at him was Moze. Losing all control of his body for a moment, he lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her in what could only be described as a bear hug mixed with desperation and a hint of romance. For her part, Moze didn't flinch or lose her footing when Ned's weight thudded into her.

"Somebody's either completely overwhelmed or REALLY missed me on the bus this morning" Moze exclaimed with plenty of humor in her voice.

Ned blushed deep red and awkwardly pulled back from the hug.

"Sorry about that" he replied sheepishly. "You're the first recognizable face I've seen since Cookie and I got off the bus."

"So is that all that hug meant?" Moze asked, tipping her head slightly and wearing a very bemused look on her face.

"Nnn-no. No! Of course not!" Ned stammered. "I'm happy to see you! I'm just trying to explain why I basically attacked you with that hug. Sorry about that."

"No apology needed Ned. But we might want to make sure our lockers work and get to homeroom. Plus we have science together and apparently our homeroom teacher is also our science teacher, so we DEFINITELY don't want to be late."

Ned raised his eyebrow.

"How do you know we have science together? Cookie said he didn't know your schedule because he hadn't talked to you, so there's no way he told you what my schedule was, and obviously I haven't talked to you about my schedule until this very second so….. Are you like a closet psychic or something?"

"You got it" Moze grinned. "I've been hiding my powers for years, so don't tell anyone or I'll mess with your mind and make you think you're a flying squirrel"

Ned laughed. It felt good to be talking like this to Moze again.

"Actually the real explanation is much simpler. Lisa told me. Cookie shared his schedule with her and mentioned he and you were in the same science class, and when I compared it to mine, I realized I was in it too. Plus the school assigns homerooms based on your first class. That's how I knew our science teacher was also our homeroom teacher, and that we were therefore in the same homeroom too."

Ned was about to reply when the bell suddenly rang, telling students they had 1 minute to get to homeroom. His eyes widened, and Moze had a look of near panic.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed.

"Test your locker first!" she responded urgently.

Ned dialed in the numbers as fast as he could but it took him three tries because of how fast he was trying to do it. Finally the locker popped open. He slammed it shut and followed Moze quickly down the hall. They were almost to their homeroom when the bell rang again, meaning they were late. Moze turned to him, about to explain how they should handle this, when a voice billowed from behind them.

"Miss Mosely! MISTER Bigby! I should have expected you would be late on your first day!"

"It can't be…." Moze whispered to Ned before she slowly turned around.

"It is." Ned whispered back, his eyes wide.

Staring at them, a somewhat angry, but also somewhat bemused expression on his face, was none other than… MR. SWEENEY!

* * *

Ned sat in the front row right in front of Mr. Sweeney's desk (the last seat available) and had to rub his eyes for at least the 6th or 7th time. He couldn't believe Mr. Sweeney was going to be his science teacher…..again! Mr. Sweeney hadn't spoken since taking the roll call and was sitting at his desk, shuffling around some papers. After a few moments, he looked up, and straight at Ned. To Ned's surprise, he smiled.

"So we meet again eh Mr. Bigby?" Mr. Sweeney said, and the tone in his voice was pleasant. "I suspect this is quite a shock for you. I hope not a bad one."

"No sir" Ned replied. "But it is definitely a surprise. Are you a substitute or something?"

"No indeed! I have taken a full time position here at John Tyler high school, teaching science, both Earth Science for you 9th graders, and also Chemistry for the junior class. I only teach half the classes for each grade, as doing all of them would be too much for even a man half my age. But in order to maintain consistency, the school has set it up so anyone in my Earth Science class will also be in my Chemistry class when the time comes. So you will not only have me as a teacher this year Mr. Bigby, but in two years we will most likely share a classroom one more time!"

Ned actually found himself smiling. Mr. Sweeney seemed puzzled by his reaction.

"Did I say something amusing Mr. Bigby?" he asked.

"No." Ned replied. "It's just nice to have a familiar face."

"Oh indeed!" Mr. Sweeney responded, sounding quite pleased. "Well when I decided it was time to move on from Polk, I had no idea I'd end up here. But I must say that having some of my old students back was a delightful surprise." He raised his voice a little to be heard by Moze, who was sitting directly behind Ned. "Especially Ms. Mosley!"

Upon hearing her name, Moze looked up from the notebook she'd been writing in, and smiled.

"Hey!" Ned exclaimed. "What about me? I'm sure you're happy to have me as a student again….right?"

Mr. Sweeney's smile disappeared as he fixed Ned with a hard stare. Ned gulped. Then Mr. Sweeney chuckled.

"Of course, Mr. Bigby. I did tell you that you were one of my favorite students after all." His expression became somewhat more serious as he continued "But you will also recall I said you were one of my worst students. High school is a lot tougher than middle school. If you want to succeed, you will need to put in more effort. A book full of tips won't be enough if you don't study and do the work, and do it on time! Speaking of doing things on time, I have a tip for YOU Mr. Bigby."

Ned's mouth dropped open. Mr. Sweeney seemed amused by his reaction.

"Yes Mr. Bigby. I have a tip for YOU, and here it is: to avoid being late to homeroom or any of your classes, don't wait for the 1 minute bell to start heading to class. Keep an eye on the time and try to be in class BEFORE the bell. That way you won't have to scramble at the last minute. That bell is a warning that class is about to start. Stay ahead of it, and you'll stay ahead of being tardy!"

"Thanks Mr. Sweeney. That is a good tip, and even though I'm not doing a guide for high school, it's something I'll definitely remember."

"Good. By the way Mr. Bigby, Ms. Mosely, seeing as it's your first day, I think we can let your tardiness to homeroom slide. You're off the hook."

Ned turned around and gave Moze a quick high five. Mr. Sweeney cleared his throat.

"But just this once." He said firmly, but with a twinkle in his eye.

* * *

Since homeroom and Earth Science were in the same classroom, the bell only rang once, to mark the end of homeroom and the beginning of first period. Before that happened, however, Ned and Moze took the time to compare their school schedules. Cookie came over from where he was sitting on the other side of the room to join them. All the 9th graders had lunch together, and out of the other 8 school periods, they only had Earth Science in which they were all in together. Ned had 3 other classes with Cookie (Computer class, Spanish, and English) and 2 with Moze (Gym and Algebra.) That left 2 classes in which Ned would have to be on his own, but Cookie assured him Lisa would be in one of those classes, which was Art. The other class, Global history, Ned would have none of his closest friends with him. Cookie gave him more good news however when he assured him that of all the teachers he had researched, the history teacher seemed most likely to be the friendliest. On the flip side, Cookie warned that the English teacher was likely to be the toughest, as his research had revealed that the English teacher, appropriately named Ms. Hammer (though it was pronounced HAY-mer) was short tempered and graded rather strictly.

Ned was glad he'd have Cookie with him and Moze revealed Lisa was in her English class. Cookie and Moze only had 1 other class together besides Earth Science, and that was of course Global history. Ned was a little jealous when he found out that Lisa was also in that class. He was the odd one out in that particular class. But overall, after talking with Moze and Cookie, Ned felt much better about his first day. They spent the remainder of homeroom talking about what they were expecting the rest of the day, Cookie complained that Lisa's locker was nowhere near his, (as it turned out, it wasn't too far from Ned and Moze's lockers) and they all expressed how shocked and pleased they were to have Mr. Sweeney as a teacher again.

Once homeroom ended and Earth Science started, Mr. Sweeney spent most of the class providing an introduction to what they could expect during the year. It was mostly what Ned expected to hear. He was especially excited when Mr. Sweeney announced that the class would be having a field trip in the spring. Of course, the mention of a field trip also pushed his thoughts back to Moze, and the field trip he'd gone on, just a few months ago, and that kiss they'd shared in the gazebo…..

If Ned had been paying closer attention however, he'd have seen another guy in the class, sitting two rows over, staring at Moze. It wasn't anyone he knew, and it wasn't anyone that Moze knew either. This kid was from one of the other middle schools. One of the many new faces Ned was going to become acquainted with.

As class ended, Ned's thoughts had shifted from Moze to wondering what meeting his new teachers would be like. As for Moze, she HAD noticed the guy staring at her. As everyone gathered up their new Earth Science textbooks and informational papers that Mr. Sweeney had handed out, Ned was still not too focused on what was going on around him. But Moze? Moze had turned beet red. The guy hadn't stopped staring and had flashed her several rather dazzling smiles. As everyone filed out of the room, Moze shyly smiled back.

* * *

 **That's all for this chapter! I know it was a LONG time coming. I want to make it clear to my readers out there that even if some time passes between chapters, this is a project I am completely committed to, and even if it comes out slowly, this story will be completed. This will NOT be one of the stories on this site that sits unfinished for eternity. I promise. My schedule is all over the place so I can't give concrete plans for when chapters will be released, but I'll get them out as soon as I can! Thanks for your support!**


	9. New Teachers, New Problems

**Hello again everyone! I made a strong effort to get this next chapter out promptly so the wait wouldn't be anywhere close to last time. Enjoy!**

* * *

Ned and Cookie walked into their second period classroom, and a nervous energy seemed to enter the room with them. After stopping briefly at their lockers to deposit their books from Mr. Sweeney's class, they had made sure to follow their teachers' advice and get to their next class well before the bell was due to ring. Now they were about to meet their first new teacher, Ms. Hammer, and Cookie had warned Ned about her. According to his research, she was one of the shortest tempered teachers in the school, and typically a rather unpleasant person.

As Ned caught sight of Ms. Hammer for the first time, he had a feeling Cookie's research was going to be spot on. She was an older woman but not elderly, probably in her mid to late 50s. She had short brown hair with streaks of gray in it, her eyes were brown, she had just a couple of wrinkles coming from the creases on her face, and her stare as the students slowly filed into the room could only be described as cold.

Ned shivered slightly at the look of her. The vibe she seemed to be giving off was that she WANTED the class to be miserable, and if they weren't, she would make sure to change that. He sincerely hoped he was wrong. Ned found a seat towards the back of the room, and Cookie managed to get the seat next to him. Ned braced himself as the bell rang and the final minute before class ticked away. As soon as that minute had evaporated, Ms. Hammer stood from where she had been sitting at her desk and spoke.

"Good morning class. My name is Ms. Hammer and I will be your teacher this year for English."

Ned couldn't help but shrink away a little at the sound of her voice. It was loud and sharp. There was no pleasantness at all to it. If anything, she sounded a little like what Ned imagined a drill sergeant would sound like. Ned glanced quickly around the room and could tell by the facial expressions on many of his classmates faces that they likely felt the same way. He was pleasantly surprised to see Coconut Head a couple rows over, and was shocked to see that Suzy Crabgrass was also in this class. She was in the back corner, as far away from the teacher as possible, looking like she wanted to blend into the wall. Ms. Hammer's voice snapped Ned's attention back to the front of the classroom.

"This will not be a class for you to goof off in" she said, and swept the room with a stern glance to reinforce her statement. "There will be plenty of work to be done. I expect everyone in this room to keep up with the assignments. Any lazy work will be graded harshly, and any attempts at misbehaving while you are in my class will be dealt with swiftly and severely. This classroom will be orderly. No note passing, talking while I am talking, or texting on your phones will be tolerated. I have no problem giving out detentions as often as I need to. Repeated problem students WILL be sent to the principal, and I assure you, your parents WILL be hearing from me."

Ned and Cookie shared a quick glance, and there was genuine fear on both of their faces.

"However," Ms. Hammer continued, and the rough edge in her voice dissipated somewhat. "If you are prepared each day, keep up with your work, and behave yourselves, you will be fine. We will be reading and studying some of the greatest poets, novelists, playwrights, and writers in history, and I believe many of you will come to enjoy what you read and learn here."

After briefly outlining what to expect during the upcoming school year, passing out a rather stringent guideline on how papers and tests would be graded, and giving out her first detention to a girl two rows over from Ned who had the misfortune of being caught passing a note to a friend, Ms. Hammer allowed the class to use the remainder of the period to talk quietly, with a warning that if anyone got too loud, they would risk a detention.

"I don't know if I can handle this class Ned" Cookie whispered, leaning towards Ned so he could keep his voice low. "You might need to come up with a whole new guide just to survive it!"

Ned chuckled softly and rolled his eyes.

"You mean The Steel Eagle is afraid of English class? If you can take on art thieves, I think you can handle Ms. Hammer"

Cookie nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's true! In fact, I bet I'll ace this class and all this worrying will have been for nothing!"

* * *

After English class had ended, Ned had a bit of extra time since the Global history class he was headed to next was the classroom located closest to his locker. He spotted Moze at her locker and decided to give her a heads up about Ms. Hammer. As he approached he realized she wasn't alone. There was a guy standing next to her. The two of them seemed to be deep in conversation were talking and Moze, with a big grin on her face, was animatedly talking about something. As Ned got close he caught the end of whatever she was saying.

"Anyway, I had no idea she was going to get so worked up over a simple suggestion!" Moze said, trying to stifle a laugh as she said it.

"Personally I thought it was a good idea" the guy Moze was talking to responded.

"Thanks" Moze replied, flashing a smile so dazzling Ned's jaw dropped.

For a moment he thought about the last time she'd given HIM a smile like that and his stomach knotted. He shook off the memory and cleared his throat to get her attention. It worked as Moze turned her gaze towards him and her expression, though still cheery, changed to greet him.

"Hey Ned!" she said, though Ned noticed a subtle change in her tone. She was clearly happy to see him, but for some reason she sounded less excited than she had when talking to this other guy just a moment ago. Moze seemed to read Ned's unease at not knowing who the guy was she was talking to, as she immediately turned to introduce him.

"Ned, this is Jeff. He's in our Earth Science class. We met after you and Cookie left for English. We're in the same Art class too. Jeff, this is my best friend Ned."

Ned reached out his arm and shook hands with Jeff, but there was a strange feeling of unease in his stomach as he did so.

"Hey Ned" Jeff said, sounding genuinely friendly. "It's nice to meet you. Jennifer here has told me quite a bit about you already."

Ned raised his eyebrow questioningly at Moze.

"When did you have time for that?" he asked, trying not to sound suspicious. "You didn't skip class did you?"

Moze and Jeff laughed almost simultaneously. Ned wasn't sure what was funny about his question, but once again Moze seemed to read his mind and explained without him even needing to ask.

"We just had a crazy Art class" she said, still laughing a little. "Mrs. Fishman, she's the Art teacher, was going over what we'd be doing this year, and I had an idea for an art project that I thought she might like, and she completely lost it. She didn't yell or anything, she just got really flustered, lost track of everything she was planning to say, and ended up going into her office the rest of the class. We basically had almost the entire period to talk. I didn't know anyone else in the class except Missy, and obviously I'm not going to talk to her if I can avoid it, and Jeff came over to the table I was sitting at, introduced himself, and asked if he could sit down. I told him I recognized him from Earth Science, and we kind of just started talking."

"Oh" Ned replied. "Well that's better than skipping class I guess. Though you might end up wanting to skip English when you meet Ms. Hammer."

Moze turned to Jeff and gave him another knowing smile. Ned hated not being in on whatever was going on.

"Actually" Moze said, "English is the other class Jeff and I have together. We compared schedules. He's actually in your Global history class next. Maybe you two can get to know each other better."

Ned wasn't sure why, but he felt almost upset at the idea of getting to know Jeff better. But he didn't let that feeling show. Instead he gave his most sincere-looking fake smile to Jeff.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea. At least now I know there's someone in that class that I'll have met before."

* * *

Ned found himself barely able to listen to his Global history teacher, Mr. Atwood, explain about the course and expectations. His mind kept wandering back to Moze's actions around Jeff. She'd just met him, and she already seemed a little too comfortable around him in Ned's opinion. Making matters harder, Jeff was literally sitting right next to him. To his credit, Jeff was being as nice to Ned as could be. Ned couldn't understand why Jeff being nice to him bothered him so much. He was a potential new friend and yet Ned found himself wishing Jeff weren't anywhere near him right now. But why?

 _Maybe I'm just thrown off by this being my first day in high school_ Ned thought to himself. _Could just be first day jitters making me a little crazy. I did just meet a rather scary teacher just before I met Jeff, so maybe that's all it is._

Ned turned his head slightly to look at Jeff. Jeff was focused on whatever Mr. Atwood was saying and didn't notice Ned looking at him. After a few moments, Ned gently shook his head and tried to focus on his teacher.

Mr. Atwood was basically the polar opposite of Ms. Hammer. He seemed to be a very nice guy, just like Cookie had thought he would be, and seemed excited to be teaching this class. He looked to be in his 40s, short brown hair and brown eyes, and he had a darker complexion, almost a tanned look. His face was very friendly and his tone of voice was warm.

Ned turned slightly to look at Jeff again. He decided, much to his annoyance, that Jeff was a good looking guy. Jeff was about the same height as Moze and Ned, with black hair and brown eyes. He clearly had well-toned muscles and took excellent care of himself. _Probably an athlete_ Ned thought to himself. He certainly looked the part.

Once again Ned found himself wondering why on earth Jeff annoyed him. He hadn't done anything wrong, and had been polite, almost to a fault. When they'd first entered class, Jeff had even asked Ned if it was ok to sit next to him. Ned had felt almost obligated to let him, but Jeff seemed genuinely pleased when Ned said yes. Inwardly, Ned sighed to himself. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to solve it in the middle of class. He forced himself to listen to his teacher, but inwardly, he was eagerly looking forward to his Computer class next period, when he'd be able to share what was going on with Cookie.

* * *

"So basically Moze introduced you to a nice guy and you're bothered by it, but you don't know why?" Cookie asked Ned as they sat at their computers, working on a simple typing exercise their teacher, Mr. Knight had suggested they try.

"Yeah, and he hasn't done anything wrong Cook. Nothing at all" Ned replied, exasperated.

Ned had spent the rest of Global history, alternating between trying to focus on the teacher, and figuring out what exactly he should say to Cookie to try to explain what was going on. He had tried to fit in as much as he could when he first arrived in the classroom, but he hadn't had much time before class started.

Mr. Knight seemed like a nice enough teacher. Older, mostly gray hair and balding, Ned had been surprised by how pleasantly strong and focused Mr. Knight sounded. He supposed he was a little biased against elderly teachers since Principal Pal at Polk had been borderline senile as a teacher. (Though Ned still missed being in his class anyway)

Ned had patiently waited for Mr. Knight to go through the class syllabus, which seemed to Ned to take three times as long as it actually had, because of his eagerness to finish explaining everything to Cookie. When Mr. Knight had finally allowed the class to go to the computers, Ned had almost dragged Cookie to the nearest ones so he could finish telling him about Jeff. Cookie had listened, mostly indifferent to the potential addition of Jeff to their social circle, but had been surprised when Ned revealed how meeting Jeff had bothered him as much as it had.

As Ned moved his fingers across the keyboard, using the method Mr. Knight had shown the class, he was about to ask Cookie if he was crazy, when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hi Ned, Hi Cookie, it's great to see you guys! I thought I'd see you before now, maybe in the halls, or at the lockers, or maybe on the way into school, or the bus, or in one of my earlier classes. Ned, I saw you in Global history but you didn't see me. I guess you were busy. Maybe you were taking notes, or listening to Mr. Atwood, or talking to the new kid next to you. I really like that class. I think it might end up being my favorite. Do you have a favorite? I had a dream last night where….."

Ned smiled as he tuned out the voice of Martin Qwerly. Through several years of practice, he'd learned how to tune out Martin when he'd start going on and on about everything he could think of. Ned would typically let Martin talk for a bit before interrupting him. Usually if he did that, Martin would talk himself out a little bit, and the conversation from that point forward could be normal. Well, as normal as it could get for Martin.

After another 30 seconds or so of rambling, Ned finally prepared himself to interrupt Martin's nonstop monologue of his day and his barrage of unanswered questions. It never ceased to amaze Ned how Martin could ask question after question, never even wait to get an answer, and move on to the next topic without skipping a beat.

Just as he was about to say something to Martin, Ned stopped, realizing Martin had said something that surprised him. Taking a moment to think and make sure he'd heard Martin correctly, (while Martin continued to talk at a rapid pace) Ned finally spoke up.

"Martin, did you say you're in my Global history class?"

Martin stopped talking and looked quizzically at Ned.

"Yeah, I was sitting two rows behind you. Didn't you see me when you came in? I waved. Maybe you need glasses? My mom had to get new glasses. Her-"

"Martin" Ned interrupted, stopping another Martin talk-a-thon before it could get started. "Are you SURE it was me in your class?"

"Of course" Martin replied nonchalantly. "You came in with that guy Moze was talking to in the hallway"

Ned turned to Cookie, an incredulous look on his face.

"See what I mean?" Ned asked him. "I was so caught up in whatever is bothering me about Jeff I didn't even notice Martin was in my class. No one in history has ever not noticed Martin!"

Cookie shook his head in disbelief.

"That's pretty bad Ned. You gotta figure out what's bothering you so much. You're not usually like this. Actually, you're NEVER like this."

"Well, class is almost over" Martin interrupted "I'll see you guys later. Maybe we'll have more classes together!"

Martin walked off to get his backpack and other belongings, while Ned looked down at the keyboard in front of him and shook his head.

"We'll have to finish talking about this in Spanish" he told Cookie. "I have Algebra with Moze next so maybe she can help me make some sense out of this."

* * *

As it turned out, Ned was unable to get any help from Moze, as he never had a chance to talk to her. The distance between the Computer class classroom and the Algebra classroom was the furthest distance he had between classes, as they were on opposite ends of the school and on different floors. By the time he reached his Algebra class, the bell had rung 20 prior, and there were only 2 desks left, both on the opposite side of the room from where Moze was sitting. She saw him come in and gave him a friendly wave but that was their only interaction.

The Algebra teacher, Mrs. Stephens, was a prototypical math teacher. She didn't talk much except about Algebra and she looked like she'd stepped straight out of a library. She had somewhat frizzy but not messy dirty blonde hair, round glasses, and a very pale complexion. She had a pleasant sounding voice, but most of the class she spoke in a tone that sounded more like a lecture on tape, and Ned found himself losing focus several times.

As soon as class had ended, Ned had jumped up out of his desk, hoping for a brief moment to talk to Moze, but she had to run back to her locker to grab her lunch, so she promised to meet him and Cookie in the cafeteria. Ned made his way to the cafeteria by himself as he was buying his lunch, and after making his way through the lunch line, he joined Cookie at a table in the corner of the cafeteria. He'd barely sat down when Moze came in. Unfortunately she wasn't alone. Walking right next to her were Lisa…..and Jeff.

* * *

Lunch was awkward for Ned. He couldn't talk to Cookie and Moze about Jeff since Jeff was with them at the table, so he did his best to be enthusiastic as they all talked about the teachers they'd had so far and which classes they thought they'd like or hate.

Moze and Cookie had Global history class right after lunch, and Moze decided they didn't want to take any risks being late, so she and Cookie left the lunchroom a few minutes early to ensure they'd be on time. Right after they left, Jeff left as well, leaving Ned and Lisa as the only two left at the table.

Ned had Art after lunch, followed by Gym and then Spanish to end the day. Lisa offered to walk with him to Art class, since they were in it together.

Art class was exactly what Ned expected after Moze told him of her experience with Mrs. Fishman, the Art teacher. Mrs. Fishman was a little goofy in Ned's opinion. She had a bit of a funny sounding voice, and seemed a little intimidated if anyone had a question. But she was also very friendly and, after having the class do an exercise where they drew their favorite meal on a piece of paper and presented it to the rest of the class as a way to introduce themselves, she gave warm compliments to many members of the class on their drawings, including Ned and Lisa, who decided to sit together.

Ned was a bit surprised to see Loomer of all people in this class, and he had a moment of nostalgia when Coconut Head, who was also in the class, accidentally hit Loomer in the head with a crumpled piece of paper he was trying to throw in the recycling bin. Loomer chased Coconut Head around the classroom until Mrs. Fishman, who had stepped into her office to get something, returned. As soon as she opened the door, Loomer leapt back into his seat, leaving a trembling Coconut Head standing awkwardly by himself in the front of the classroom. Ned had to stifle a laugh. It was like old times at Polk.

As class ended, Ned got ready to head to his first Gym class. Since it was the first class of the year and no gym activities would take place, there was no need to change into gym clothes so he had a few minutes to talk to Lisa and find out how her first day was going. She admitted that she was nervous but that overall the day had mostly exceeded her expectations. She was headed to the dreaded English class at the end of the day however, and despite the fact Moze would be there, Lisa was still nervous. Apparently Cookie had embellished a bit on how strict Ms. Hammer had been so Ned had to clear up what had actually happened, which Lisa admitted made her feel a little better.

* * *

After parting company with Lisa, Ned made his way to Gym class. Normally the class would go to the boys and girls locker rooms to change before meeting in the gym, but as this was the first class of the year, the gym teacher, Mr. Jewett had the class sit in one section of the bleachers in the gym while he gave an overview of what Gym class would be like. Ned made sure to grab a seat next to Moze.

Mr. Jewett was exactly the kind of gym teacher Ned had expected: physically fit, early 40s with a loud voice and a louder whistle around his neck. He explained that while there would be the typical gym activities like fitness tests, timed mile runs, and even the occasional quiz or test, there would also be plenty of sports played and fun competitions. Mr. Jewett promised a variety of sports would be learned and played by the class during the year, from basics like basketball and volleyball, to more obscure sports like handball.

Moze of course perked up at the mention of volleyball, and Ned was excited to hear they'd be playing basketball at some point, especially since 9th graders weren't allowed on the school's varsity sports programs. There were after school intramurals for various sports at different times of the year, but Ned knew Moze wanted real competition, and a volleyball competition in gym would be a welcome activity for her. Meanwhile Ned was keenly aware he wouldn't be talented enough to make the school's varsity basketball team when he reached the required grade level, thanks to his brief attempt to play on the school team at Polk. He also wasn't big on the idea of intramurals, so this would be his chance to shoot some hoops.

After Mr. Jewett finished going over the goals and expectations for gym class for the school year, he told the class they could use the few minutes left in the period to talk amongst themselves. Ned considered mentioning his bizarre issues with Jeff to Moze but decided the few minutes he had weren't enough to fit it all in, so instead they had a light conversation about their day. Ned gave Moze a couple tips for her English class, and a last warning about Ms. Hammer, and before they knew it, class was over.

Ned headed to his final class feeling a mixed bag of emotions. He liked most of his teachers so far, he was glad the day was almost over, but Jeff was still on his mind, and he still wasn't sure why.

* * *

Moze had never been nervous of a class before. But after what Cookie and Ned had told her, she was nervous about meeting Ms. Hammer. She had tried to be the first person to arrive to most of her classes today to make a good impression on her teachers, especially after having been late to homeroom to start the day. But for this class, she'd decided to arrive to class around the time when she figured half the class or so would already be there, so she could blend in. She was also very grateful to have Lisa with her.

As Moze and Lisa entered the classroom, Moze was immediately struck by the appearance of Ms. Hammer. Moze would never have even thought of calling a teacher's appearance intimidating, but Ms. Hammer sure looked the part. Her voice was just as intimidating as her appearance. But, just like Ned had said, after warning the class that she wouldn't tolerate any nonsense, she softened a little to encourage those that did the work and didn't goof off had nothing to worry about.

Moze decided right there that she was determined to never end up on this woman's bad side. Then she had to stifle a laugh. _Since when have I EVER been on a teacher's bad side?_ She thought to herself.

After Ms. Hammer finished her speech and passed out her papers on what to expect in terms of grading, the class was allowed the rest of the period to talk quietly. Just as she had for Ned's class, Ms. Hammer warned that anyone who got too loud would promptly receive a detention. Moze wondered if Ms. Hammer would set a detention record among all the teachers at John Tyler high school.

Lisa leaned over to Moze and broke her train of thought y clearing her throat softly, indicating she wanted to talk.

"So what do you think?" she asked Moze.

"Of Ms. Hammer?"

"Well sort of. I meant of our first day overall."

Moze thought for a moment.

"I think I'm going to like high school" she admitted. "Most of the teachers seem pretty good, I like how the classes look like they'll be challenging but fun, and I'm happy Mr. Sweeney is teaching Earth Science. It's always nice to see a familiar face in a new place."

"Speaking of new things" Lisa said, a smile mischievously playing at the corners of her mouth, "I hear you met someone today. Someone named Jeff?"

Moze blushed. First a little. Then a lot. When she didn't respond right away, Lisa's little mischievous grin became a knowing smile.

"You like him, don't you?" she asked Moze, with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Moze turned beet red at this point.

"But what about Ned?" Lisa asked, her tone changing and becoming much more serious.

 _What about Ned?_ Moze wondered as she pondered how best to respond to her friend's question. _I still don't know if I can have anything beyond friendship with him. Maybe what happened with Ned shows that he and I should just be friends, or maybe I don't have the right feelings for Ned for that kind of relationship. I don't trust my feelings about him right now, that's for sure. I don't even think I trust HIS feelings._

Lisa was still staring at Moze, expectantly waiting for an answer. Moze sighed.

"I'm not sure Lisa. I'm not sure about anything right now."

But that wasn't true. Deep down Moze knew. _I'll tell her when I'm ready_ she thought. _I'll tell Lisa, but I'm not telling Ned. Not for a while at least. It would hurt him too much to know that I have a crush on Jeff._

* * *

 **This chapter was a bit hard to write as I had to introduce the new school and teachers, which was a little tricky to do without going on for too long. Hopefully it didn't drag on too much for any of you readers. Most chapters going forward won't cover just one day, especially not like this unless it's for a major event of some kind. Some chapters may even jump weeks (or months) at a time within the chapter depending on what is happening within the story. Also I know it was a little different to not switch POV (point of view) to Moze until the very end of the chapter, but obviously I had my reason to do it that way! Most chapters will be split a bit more evenly in terms of POV, though some chapters will certainly focus on one character for one reason or another. Also we will see more of Cookie and get some of his POV going forward, it will just take a bit of time as there's a lot that's going to be happening. The teachers, or at least some of them, will also be more involved as the story goes along, kind of like the series but maybe in a bit of a different way as well. You also might see the return of a couple more characters from the series! Just wanted to give everyone a rough idea of what to expect going forward. Hopefully everyone is enjoying the story so far and hopefully I'll get the next chapter out soon!**


	10. Trouble Brewing

**Hello again everyone! My schedule has finally permitted me to make some progress on this story, as evidenced by the multiple chapters I've been able to put up in recent weeks. Hopefully this will continue, but time will tell! In the meantime, enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

Moze looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. Her first week at John Tyler high school was coming to a close, and she couldn't have felt more confused. Her classes were all going well so far, even English with Ms. Hammer. School wasn't what was on her mind right now. Her problems all stemmed from her personal life.

First there was Ned Bigby, her closest friend for most of her life, and for a brief time, her boyfriend. Moze was still trying to grapple with the question of just how she could trust Ned after the situation with Suzy. She had made it a point to not let it affect their friendship, but any feelings beyond friendship were murky at best. Moze had to admit she had serious doubts about a romantic relationship with Ned.

Complicating things further was her quickly blossoming friendship with Jeff Griffin, a fellow freshman in their class. Moze had to admit that she and Jeff had hit it off right away. She also had to admit (even if only to herself) that she was developing a pretty significant crush on Jeff. She loved spending time with him. They even had plans this weekend to go hang out at the mall. Moze felt butterflies in her stomach now every time she saw him.

This was why Moze currently found herself, standing in front of her mirror, having the longest wardrobe crisis of her life. On the one hand, she found herself wanting to look good to impress Jeff. On the other hand, she knew that if she showed up to school dressed differently than usual, it would draw a lot of questions from her friends. Those were questions Moze didn't want to answer yet, and she wasn't even sure if she knew HOW to answer them.

She especially didn't want to do anything that might hurt Ned. In spite of all her confusion about her feelings towards him, she knew she didn't want to hurt him, and finding out about her crush on Jeff would almost certainly cause him pain. Moze winced internally every morning when they met up to take the bus to school. She could see the hopeful look in his eyes every time he walked up to her to say good morning.

Moze sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. She still remembered telling Ned she wasn't going to give up on trying to make a romance between them work, right after he had told her the same thing. She still wasn't sure if she'd only said that to make him feel better about their break up, or if deep down that was what she really wanted. It was just all so confusing!

 _Why can't guys be like girls?_ Moze wondered. _They'd be so much easier to understand, and then I wouldn't have to spend half an hour just deciding what to wear!_ Moze glanced at the clock and realized she was running out of time to make a decision. After another minute or two of debating her options, Moze finally decided to grabbed one of her pairs of blue jeans, but decided to pair them with a new top her mom had bought her over the summer. It was a pretty button up shirt with swirls of light and dark blue. She also grabbed a light blue tank top to wear underneath, as the shirt was made of a thin, semi see-through material. After she dressed, Moze looked in the mirror and had to admit, she liked the way she looked. She hoped Jeff would too.

* * *

Ned practically ran down the steps from his room, dashed through the kitchen, barely stopping to grab the pop tarts his mom had heated up for him, and bolted outside. He was eager, as he was every morning, to see Moze and talk to her before the bus arrived to take them to school, especially since they were never guaranteed to have an empty seat available on the bus so they could sit together.

As he emerged from his house and caught sight of Moze, Ned's heart felt like it stopped for a moment. Her appearance was breathtaking. Ned had always thought Moze was pretty, but her appearance now was nothing short of beautiful. At first Ned wasn't completely sure why Moze looked more stunning than usual, until he noticed her attire. The shirt she was wearing was pretty, but the way it fit with her already natural good looks was what put her appearance over the top.

Ned froze for a moment before approaching her. _Is she dressed nicer than usual to impress me?_ This led to an even bigger hope in his mind: _Is she trying to tell me she's ready to get back together as a couple?_ Ned swallowed, trying to quell his rising nervousness and anticipation, and finally summoned the courage to approach Moze. As he approached her, Moze turned and flashed him a quick friendly smile.

"Hey Moze" he said trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"Morning Ned" she replied. "Ready to finish our first week of high school?"

"Definitely."

There was a pause between the two as both seemed unsure of what to say next. Ned was the one to break the brief silence.

"You look really nice today Moze. What's the occasion?"

Ned was surprised to see Moze appear uncomfortable at having this question asked. She blushed slightly, but also tried to avoid eye contact and stammered a bit while trying to respond. When she finally found words to answer his question, she sounded anything but convincing.

"No real reason" she managed. "Just… thought I'd so something different today. You know, end the first week with a bang."

Ned stared at her for a minute, and had just opened his mouth to ask her if she had decided to look nice specifically for him, when the bus pulled up. Ned lost his courage, and instead boarded the bus behind her without another word.

* * *

Throughout the day, Moze actively tried to avoid Ned. She could tell he was wondering if her change in appearance was connected to him in some way, and she REALLY didn't want to have to tell him it wasn't.

In Earth Science, Jeff did indeed compliment her on her appearance, but since Moze was sitting between Jeff and Ned, she wasn't able to respond to the compliment in the way she wanted, and instead had to tone down her response to a simple thank you.

After that class, Moze was determined to keep some distance from Ned the rest of the day. Fortunately her second class was Art, which meant she'd get a chance to talk to Jeff without Ned around. Moze wasn't a fan of having to watch what she said so carefully, so she was grateful for the opportunity Art class represented. Sure enough, shortly after they'd sat down next to each other, Jeff again complimented her appearance, telling her how much he liked her blouse.

"You really like it?" she responded, trying to sound as pleased as she felt.

"Yeah" Jeff replied with a smile "It looks great on you. Or rather, YOU look great in IT. You should dress like that more often."

Moze blushed a fairly deep shade of red and nervously tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks, maybe I will." Moze hesitated, then blurted out "If you like it I mean."

Jeff grinned broadly then leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"You mean if I like you? Cuz I do you know."

Moze felt like her insides were doing somersaults. She wasn't sure if she could even find her voice to respond. Jeff's voice in her ear and his breath on her ear and neck had caused her to feel tingly all over. After taking a couple of moments to gather herself, she shyly turned her head partly in his direction, enough to make eye contact, and took a breath to calm herself enough to respond.

"I like you too Jeff."

* * *

Ned had just wrapped up his Computer class with Cookie and was approaching his locker when he noticed a flier had been taped to it, as well as everyone else's locker. He carefully removed it and read it: NEXT FRIDAY NIGHT! WELCOME BACK DANCE OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS! THE THEME IS SADIE HAWKINS SO GIRLS ASK THE GUYS! ADMISSION IS $5, TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE OR AT THE DOOR. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.

Ned smiled as he folded up the flyer and put it in his locker. This was PERFECT! A Sadie Hawkins dance would force Moze to ask HIM out, and now he wouldn't have to ask her what her feelings were! Ned felt his excitement rising. First school dance, and the possibility of getting the girl of his dreams back had him floating on air all the way to Algebra.

He was able to make it in time to grab a seat next to Moze for the first time, but he deliberately avoided the topic of the dance when they had a chance to talk, and instead focused the conversation on class related topics, which for Ned was NOT an easy thing to do.

As soon as class ended, Ned offered to walk Moze to lunch, but to his surprise, she said she had something she needed to do first and dashed off. As Ned watched her moving quickly away down the hallway, he smiled. _She's definitely in a hurry. I wonder if she's putting together a plan to ask me to the dance_ he thought happily to himself.

* * *

Moze hurried as quickly as she could to her locker, one objective clearly on her mind. She had texted Jeff (whose number she had gotten at the end of Art class) to meet her at her locker before they went to lunch. Normally Moze knew she wouldn't be this impulsive, but everything seemed to be lining up so perfectly that she didn't want to wait and risk something happening to ruin everything. As she approached her locker she saw Jeff was already there, waiting for her.

"Hey Jeff" she panted, nearly out of breath from having been walking so fast. "Sorry I'm a little late. My Algebra class is literally about as far away from here has my house."

Jeff laughed at her joke and Moze couldn't help but grin.

"It's okay Jennifer" he replied. "I'm sure whatever it is you needed was worth the wait."

"I hope so" she responded, now beginning to feel slightly nervous. "I actually wanted to ask you something."

"If the question is, why did they put my Algebra class so sadistically far away from my locker, I don't have an answer for you" Jeff joked.

Moze chuckled and went right along with the joke.

"No, that's not it, though remind me to set up a meeting with the principal to ask him that."

This time they both laughed. Moze cleared her throat and decided to just ask, rather than beat around the bush and risk psyching herself out of it.

"I'm sure you saw the flyers about the dance next Friday. You know, the Sadie Hawkins one?"

"No" Jeff joked "I saw all these pieces of paper on everyone's locker and I just figured one of the office paper supply stores was giving out free samples."

They both laughed again as Moze started to blush.

"Actually" she replied, a hint of nervousness finding its way into her voice, "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. You know, as my date. I figured I'd ask you right away before anyone else had a chance to"

Jeff locked his eyes on hers. Moze could feel her heart fluttering inside her chest. It seemed like an eternity before he did anything, though in reality it was just a couple of seconds. Without saying a word, Jeff slowly leaned in and kissed Moze gently on the cheek. When he pulled back, he had a very sincere expression on his face.

"I would love to go with you Jennifer."

* * *

"So you're expecting Moze to ask you to the dance?" Cookie asked excitedly.

Ned grinned and leaned closer to his friend.

"The way she's been acting, she might even ask me here at lunch!"

"Ned that would be so cool! Since Lisa is sure to ask me, we could double date! It would be amazing!"

Ned sat back and thought about going to the dance with Moze. _It would be amazing. I can just see us now, walking in together, with Cook and Lisa, and having the best time ever. Moze will probably look more beautiful than I can even imagine, and I can't wait to have her in my arms again, and to be able to kiss those sweet lips…_

"Ned, here she comes!" Cookie exclaimed, interrupting Ned's thoughts.

Ned looked up, pleased to see Moze entering the lunchroom. His excitement tapered however, when Jeff walked in with her.

* * *

Moze was apprehensive as she and Jeff entered the lunchroom. She quickly spotted Ned and Cookie at one of the tables. Cookie looked really excited about something, and Ned seemed to be daydreaming about something that seemed to be making him really happy. Then Cookie spotted her and said something to Ned which jostled Ned out from whatever he was daydreaming about.

Moze noticed that Ned's expression changed quickly from excitement when he first spotted her, to apprehension when he noticed Jeff. Moze was tempted for a moment to go sit at a separate table to avoid any chance of the dance coming up. Suddenly to her horror she realized she'd never told Jeff to keep it secret.

What happened next seemed to unfold in slow motion. Jeff grabbed her hand and excitedly steered her towards Ned and Cookie's table. Lisa wasn't at the table yet so Moze didn't have any backup to help stop what was unfolding. As they reached the table, Moze saw Ned's eyes turn down to stare at Jeff's hand holding hers. When his gaze came back up, she saw a look of confusion across his face at first, then a slow, painful realization spreading across his features as his mind seemed to put the pieces together. Moze felt frozen in place. She didn't know what to say. Unfortunately for the worsening situation, Jeff did.

"Hey guys!" he said excitedly. "Guess what?"

Moze could tell Jeff was excited to tell the people he was getting to know as a potential new group of friends, news that he thought they'd all be excited about. He had no idea the consequences of what he was about to say. Moze wanted to scream at him to stop, to not reveal the news he seemed so excited to share, but she still felt frozen in place, and not a sound escaped her mouth as Jeff continued.

"Jennifer asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance! We are going as a couple! Isn't that great?"

Time seemed to almost freeze now. Moze, with a stricken look on her face, stared right into the eyes of Ned Bigby. What she saw on his face, she knew she would never forget. Hurt. Betrayal. Worst of all, she felt like she could actually see his heart breaking.

* * *

Ned felt like he'd swallowed a bunch of nails. Or fire. His insides hurt. No, his HEART was what was hurting. Breaking. For a moment he just stared dumbly at Moze, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. Then Ned finally saw the painful truth of it all. Moze had been HIDING her feelings about Jeff. Hiding them from him. The person she was supposed to be closest to. He'd been living in a fantasy world. He thought Moze was going to ask HIM out. It had NEVER been him. It was Jeff. The outfit was for Jeff. The nervous attitude was about Jeff. Everything Ned had thought were signs Moze was finally ready to take him back….. were actually about Jeff.

At that moment Ned realized everyone's eyes were on him: Jeff, Moze and Cookie. Ned suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there. His heart in pieces, and without saying a word, Ned jumped up from the table and ran. He thought he heard at least one of them call after him, but he never stopped to see who. He barely heard them anyway over the buzzing filling his mind. All he felt was pain. Raw, pounding pain. He wanted to escape it, but there was nowhere to hide from it. He fled the cafeteria, and kept running, just trying to get away. Away from everything.

* * *

Moze felt sick to her stomach. Seeing Ned find out, seeing him crushed, and seeing the pain he couldn't hide before running off, made her feel awful. This wasn't how it was supposed to have happened. Moze eagerly looked forward to gym class, when she'd see Ned, and be able to explain, and tell him she'd never meant to hurt him. She wanted to do something, anything to help him. But Gym class arrived, and Moze found out Ned had gone home. Apparently he'd gone to the nurse at some point after fleeing the cafeteria and had called his mom to come pick him up.

After school, Moze practically ran off the bus, hoping to be able to talk to Ned. She considered going over to his house, but she wasn't sure what he'd told his mom when he'd been picked up from school, and Moze didn't want to have another awkward situation. Instead, she ran up to her room and opened the curtains, and looked out to Ned's room. But in a rare occurrence, the curtains were closed. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed his number. The phone rang and rang, but Ned never picked up. Moze left a simple voicemail asking, and almost pleading with Ned to call her. She waited in her room for some kind of response.

Afternoon became evening and then night. The curtains remained closed. Ned didn't call. Moze only left her room to have dinner with her family, then returned to her room immediately afterward. She spent the rest of the night constantly looking out her window, hoping that Ned would open his curtains, hoping he would call, hoping they could talk. She stayed up as late as she could, but there was no sign of Ned Bigby.

* * *

 **That's it for this chapter! Hope you liked it! Hoping to have the next one out soon!**


	11. Ned Bigby's Worst Week Ever

**Hello my faithful readers! It's time for the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Ned Bigby stared blankly at his bedroom wall. He felt…. well he wasn't really sure how he felt. He'd gone numb to the pain that had been unbearable ever since lunch. He'd had his mom come and get him from school, claiming he felt sick. It wasn't exactly a lie, he did feel sick. Heartsick. Heartbroken.

As soon as he'd gotten home, he'd come up to his room. Now he was lying on his bed in the dark. His phone had rang a few times, he hadn't bothered to check who was calling. After a few attempted calls, he'd gotten sick of the ringing and put the phone on silent. Every once in a while the phone would light up, casting a dim glow across the ceiling and walls, a sign that someone was trying to call or text him. Ned didn't care. He'd retreated deep into his own mind and the phone's light barely even registered to him.

 _I wonder if I could get out of going to school tomorrow_ he thought to himself. _I could tell mom I'm feeling even sicker._ He rolled over on his bed as he mulled this idea over. _Of course if I tell mom I'm feeling sicker, she'll probably just take me to the doctor_ , _and he'll figure out I'm not sick and then I'll just get in trouble on top of everything else._ Ned eventually fell asleep trying to figure a way out of having to go to school in the morning.

"Mom are you SURE I have to go?" Ned pleaded.

His mom fixed him with a firm stare, folded her arms across her chest and didn't respond. After a few seconds of silence, Ned sighed in defeat.

"Fine, I'll go, but I want it on record that I'm leaving under protest."

His mom laughed a little at this response, but Ned didn't share the humor. He slung his backpack over his left shoulder and trudged towards his front door. He reached the door and put his hand on the doorknob, then turned back towards his mother.

"It's time to go Ned Bigby. No more arguing" his mom's voice was firm and indicated there would be no further discussion.

Ned turned the doorknob and opened his front door, noticing how heavy the door felt today. He kept his eyes pointed towards the ground, as he fully expected Moze to be standing outside at the curb, waiting for the bus, and he didn't want to see her, or talk to her.

 _Moze._

Even just thinking of her name caused a fresh wave of pain to crash through him, and left his stomach feeling like it was filled with lead.

As Ned stepped outside, he glanced up quickly and noticed the skies were overcast. It looked like rain.

 _How fitting_ he thought to himself.

As he quickly returned his gaze towards the ground, he caught a quick glimpse of the familiar figure of Moze, standing at the curb just as Ned had feared she would be. Fortunately at that exact moment, her back was turned towards him, so she hadn't noticed him yet. Even more fortunately, the bus chose that exact moment to come rumbling up the road towards them.

Ned timed his walk to bring himself to the curb just as the bus pulled up. As he approached her side, Moze finally noticed him.

"Ned!" she exclaimed in a voice that sounded like a combination of relived and concerned at the same time. "I haven't heard a thing from you! Are you ok?"

Ned set his jaw and refused to look at her, instead choosing to climb onto the bus the moment the doors opened. He could hear her behind him, calling his name a few more times, before finally realizing he wasn't going to respond and stopping. He walked all the way to the back of the bus and sat in an open seat. To his relief, Moze must have decided not to follow him as he saw her sitting towards the front of the bus after he'd settled into his seat. She almost immediately turned, clearly hoping to make eye contact. Ned quickly shifted his gaze to the bus floor and didn't look up the entire ride to school.

* * *

As Ned approached his locker, he prepared himself for the unavoidable. He wasn't going to be able to ignore Moze while they stood next to each other at their lockers, and sure enough, Moze was already at hers, and she was clearly waiting for him.

As he approached, Ned forced himself to not look at the floor. Moze's expression as he walked up was clearly one of concern and maybe even some sympathy. Ned didn't care. He didn't want her sympathy. He didn't want to be anywhere near her, but he had no choice if he wanted to be sure he had his books for class. He went straight to his locker, but Moze stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Ned, we need to talk. Please."

Ned fixed her with a cold glare and didn't say a word.

 _Does she really expect to just "talk it out?" Does she really think that's gonna fix anything?_

Moze didn't let his silence deter her. She went right into what was clearly a well-rehearsed speech she'd prepared for him.

"Ned, I know what happened yesterday must have come as a shock. I never meant for things to happen like that. I want you to-"

What happened next caught everyone within earshot by surprise. The numbness and pain Ned had been feeling suddenly erupted into white-hot fury and when he interrupted her, Ned's voice was very loud and very angry.

"YOU DON'T NEED ME TO DO ANYTHING MOSELY!" he yelled. "You CLEARLY don't need me for ANYTHING. That's FINE. I DON'T NEED YOU EITHER!"

The words burned through the air like a searing flame, and Moze stepped back in shock at the tenacity with which Ned had spoken them.

"Ned-" she tried to say in a calming voice that sounded more timid than calming, but Ned was just getting warmed up and unloaded another verbal barrage.

"SHUT UP!" he bellowed. "I don't have ANYTHING to say to you, and I don't want to HEAR anything from you either, you lying, manipulative HYPOCRITE!"

Moze's eyes were now glistening, and an expression of pain was quickly forming on her face, but in his fury, Ned barely noticed.

"Ned, you're my friend and-" but Ned interrupted again for one final verbal assault.

"NO I'M NOT!" he almost screamed. His shouting was drawing a bit of a crowd but Ned ignored them. "No TRUE friend would ever act like that! NEVER! We are NOT friends anymore! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"

After this final statement, Ned stormed past Moze, who now had tears rolling down her cheeks, opened his locker, grabbed several books, and slammed his locker shut with tremendous force, and the resulting bang caused several people to jump. He turned and stormed off towards homeroom.

Moze tearfully tried to call out after him, but barely managed to get out his name before breaking down. Ned didn't slow, and was only spurred on faster by the sight of Jeff dashing past him, clearly going to comfort Moze.

Ned managed to avoid Moze the rest of the day, sitting as far away from her as possible in the classes they shared. For a few periods there was a buzz among many of his classmates from his explosion, but eventually things died down.

At lunch Ned decided he wanted to be alone, avoiding the cafeteria altogether and opting instead to spend the period in the library, aimlessly surfing the internet on one of the computers. He ignored calls from Cookie, Lisa, and most of all, Moze.

By the end of the day, Ned's anger was quickly turning into bitter resentment. He despised Moze for how she'd treated him, and he was quickly becoming jealous of Cookie and Lisa's happy relationship.

As Ned rode home, once again alone at the back of the bus, he began to come up with an idea. By the time he got home, that idea had blossomed into a full plan. Ned decided that the easiest way to get back at Moze, and to get over his jealousy over his best friend's relationship, was to get a girl to take him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. He had just under a week in order to pull it off.

* * *

Ned continued to avoid Moze, starting with standing as far away from her as he could while they waited for the bus, and doing his best to avoid being at his locker at the same time she was at hers. He also started to try to socialize with other girls, which ended up being harder than he thought.

After English class, he tried talking to a cute girl named Kate, but she brushed him off, telling him to leave her alone. After history class, he tried to join a trio of girls walking down the hall, and get in on their conversation, but it only resulted in one girl calling him a creep, and another telling him to get lost.

Ned even tried talking to Missy Meany, but apparently over the summer she'd met a guy named Mark and was convinced he was her perfect match, though she did give Ned a tip that any guys looking for a date to the dance could put their names down on a sheet of paper that had been subtly placed on one of the school bulletin boards. Any girl who wanted to be their date would write their own name next to the guy's name, along with a place and time to meet to make the date official. Ned found the sheet and put his name on it, figuring that it would at least work as a backup plan. The sheet would stay up until Thursday afternoon, the day before the dance, so Ned decided he would check it then if he hadn't gotten a girl to ask him before that.

At lunch Ned finally broke his silence to talk to Cookie on the condition that Lisa not be there. Ned explained to Cookie that he didn't have anything against Lisa, he just didn't want to risk anything he said getting repeated to Moze.

As the two sat down to eat, Cookie almost immediately burst out with questions.

"So what are you going to do now" Cookie asked, after Ned had filled him in on what had happened since they last spoke, and how he had severed all ties to Moze.

Ned leaned back a little in his seat and sighed, but a mischievous grin played at the corners of his mouth.

"It's actually pretty simple" he replied. "I get a great girl to take me to the dance, she becomes my new girlfriend, and Moze can go suck Jeff's face all she wants, knowing I'm never speaking to her again."

"But you guys have been friends practically since you were babies!" Cookie protested. "You can't call it quits now!"

"It wasn't me who ended it" Ned replied coolly. "Moze was the one who betrayed me, so as far as I see it, she's the one who destroyed the friendship. Her loss, not mine."

Cookie's mouth dropped open at the casual way Ned was burying such a long term relationship.

Ned brushed off the reaction with a shrug and resumed eating his lunch.

All Cookie could do was sadly shake his head.

* * *

Ned struck out trying to talk to several other girls as the day wound down. The closest he got to interest was a girl who told him she'd meet him at her locker at the end of the day. When Ned went to go find the locker number the girl had given him, he found out that the locker number she'd provided didn't exist.

As Ned rode home alone again, he thought over the day's events and was a little surprised at how easily he'd been rebuffed by all the girls he'd tried to talk to. He decided to chalk it up to the fact that maybe he'd come on too strongly. He vowed to take things a little slower when he tried again.

As he got off the bus at his house, Moze was surprisingly waiting for him on his front steps. He was a little shocked that he hadn't noticed she wasn't on the bus with him.

As he walked up to her, she immediately tried to hug him. He put out his hands and firmly stopped her, pushing her back with enough force to show he had no interest in hugging her.

"Ned" she said, sounding almost desperate. "Please let me talk to you. Please don't shut me out."

Ned held up his hand to stop her.

"Jennifer, just don't. I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

Moze's eyes went wide.

"You haven't called me Jennifer since…."

"Since before we were friends" Ned finished for her. "I know. But we aren't friends anymore. So from now on, you're just Jennifer from school to me. Got it?"

Moze was clearly choking back tears as she turned and ran to her house.

Ned shook his head as she disappeared inside.

Unfortunately for Ned, the next day didn't go much better. In spite of his efforts to take a more casual approach to getting some of the girls to talk to him, they continued to blow him off, one right after another. It didn't help that he was constantly overhearing other guy's brag about which girls asked them to the dance. During one trip to the bathroom Ned even overheard one guy boasting about how he'd managed to get TWO dates to the dance. Apparently one girl was leaving early and the other arriving late, so the two would never even find out about each other. Ned shook his head at hearing this. He couldn't even get a girl to talk to him, yet here was an unknown guy who apparently had no shortage of girls interested in him.

As Ned trudged to class after class, his anger at Moze was melting into sadness as rejection after rejection began to take their toll. At one point Ned even tried asking Suzy Crabgrass if she'd be interested in taking him to the dance. Suzy had laughed and informed him that she was dating Loomer again and that he'd missed his chance with her over the summer.

As Wednesday drew quickly to a close, Ned realized that his best bet to have a date to the dance was with the sheet he'd signed based on Missy's advice. He hadn't checked his name yet, but he'd been by it and a quick glance revealed plenty of girls had chosen dates off of the sheet.

As Ned dozed off that night he began to wonder if maybe he'd be better off not going to the dance at all. _I guess it depends on who picks me_ he thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

As Ned and Moze stood silently next to each other waiting for the bus, Ned was tempted, just for a moment, to say something nice to Moze. He'd been sneaking glances at her, and he had to admit, she looked miserable. But the rush of compassion he suddenly felt towards her surprised him. It passed after a moment and the uncomfortable silence continued. After a few minutes, just as Ned found himself again hit with the desire to say something to Moze, the familiar sound of the bus reached his ears, and moments later he was sitting alone again, in the back of the bus, wondering why he suddenly didn't hate Moze quite so much anymore.

After reaching school and starting the day off by avoiding his locker altogether, Ned found his seat in Mr. Sweeney's class. He'd been making sure to sit as far away from Moze as possible, which had meant sitting in the back of the room. Mr. Sweeney had evidently decided Ned was reverting to his lazy student ways, based on the disappointed glances Ned had noticed Mr. Sweeney giving him every time he moved to the back of the classroom to sit. _It's a small price to pay_ Ned thought. _My grades aren't going to suffer because of this. Mr. Sweeney will see for himself once he gives us any quizzes or tests._

It was true, in spite of Ned's miserable week, he'd been staying on top of his classwork. It helped that it was only the second week of school so the work was still light, but in spite of the miserable emotional state he was in, Ned had been paying attention in classes, doing well on the few homework assignments he'd gotten so far, and was attentive in class, diligently taking notes. _If we were still speaking, Moze would probably be proud_ Ned thought ruefully to himself.

Later that day in Computer class, Ned and Cookie had a few moments to talk about the fast approaching dance, and Ned's continued lack of a date.

"So have you checked the free agent sheet" Cookie asked Ned as soon as they were able to talk.

The free agent sheet was the name that had been given to the sheet Ned had signed, and it had become quite a popular topic. For some girls it had become an easy way to ask their crush to the dance, and for guys like Ned, it was a way to get a date when no other options seemed to be available. It had actually grown from just one piece of paper on the bulletin board to 3 sheets of paper because of its popularity. Many guys had signed up, and many girls had chosen dates from the list.

Ned shook his head in response to Cookie's question but grinned.

"I haven't looked yet but I'm hoping somebody good picked me. I'm actually looking forward to meeting a new girl, and who knows? Maybe it'll lead to a new relationship!"

Cookie clapped Ned on the shoulder encouragingly.

"Ned I'm rooting for you. I just wish you could patch things up with-"

"Don't say it Cook" Ned warned, a firm edge in his voice that signaled there was no room for discussion.

Cookie just shrugged and turned his attention back to his computer without saying another word.

Ned stared at his friend for a few moments longer, then turned back to his own computer.

 _I can't just erase what happened. Even if I could, I'm not the one who should be doing the erasing._

* * *

As the day wound down to a close, Ned's curiosity about what girl had picked him, and when and where he'd get to meet her had grown to a fever pitch. As soon as his final class had ended, Ned practically sprinted to the bulletin board where the list was posted. A small crowd of guys had gathered around it. There were murmurs and occasional shouts of glee or groans of disappointment. Ned heard more than a couple guys grumbling about whichever girl had put her name next to theirs. After a few moments of waiting, Ned heard a familiar voice yell out in excitement.

"A girl picked me! A girl picked me!"

Running out of the group, a huge smile plastered on his face, was Coconut Head. He saw Ned and held up his hand, expecting a high five. Ned smiled and obliged. Coconut Head ran down the hall, still loudly announcing his excitement at being chosen. Ned wondered for a moment what kind of girl Coconut Head's date was going to be, but then he realized the group around the list was dispersing and he could finally find out his own fate.

Ned waited a moment and took a deep breath, then approached the list. He scanned the list of names. There were so many, he couldn't remember which of the 3 sheets of paper he'd signed. After a few moments, he finally found his name. He put his finger on his name and traced it to the right, to where he'd find the name of the girl he'd be going to the dance with.

It was blank.

Ned frowned and went back to his name. He checked again. Nothing. No girl had signed next to his name.

He had no date to the dance.

Ned stared dumbly at the list for several moments. He started looking at the other names on the list. After mindlessly browsing the names for a minute or two, Ned reached a startling and painful realization.

He was the only one a girl hadn't chosen.

Ned shook his head, not quite believing what he was seeing. _This has to be a mistake! Something isn't right!_

But several re-checks of the list showed it was not a mistake. He was the only one who had signed up and been rejected. Half the matched couples on the list probably had never met each other, but the idea of meeting someone new was a big draw. Yet somehow, he'd been turned down flat. Ned stepped back from the list. The pain he'd felt when Moze had crushed him was returning. He had to get out of the school. He didn't want anyone to see how awful he was feeling. He didn't even bother trying to take the bus. He practically ran the whole way home, went straight to his room, and buried his head in his pillow. Ned felt absolutely devastated.

* * *

 **Well that's it for this installment. A little tease for everyone: the next chapter is a big one! Hopefully it'll be worth the wait and I'll try to get it out as soon as I can! Thanks for your support and kind reviews!**


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